Kathleen Wynne unveils sweeping fundraising reforms after Star probe.

Corporate and union donations to Ontario political parties will be banned as of Jan. 1 and other fundraising loopholes closed in the wake of a Star expose.

Thestar.com
April 11, 2016
By Robert Benzie

Corporate and union donations to Ontario political parties will be banned as of Jan. 1 and other fundraising loopholes closed in the wake of a Star expose.

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Monday that legislation being introduced next month will also curb third-party advertising by interest groups, limit fundraising during byelections, and impose new caps on electoral spending during campaigns.

“I am committed to changes in election and political party financing in Ontario. I believe it is important that these changes be in place or significantly underway before the June 2018 election,” Wynne said in a 2,000-word statement she wrote at home over the weekend.

Her announcement came following a 45-minute meeting in her office with Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who each condemned the premier for acting unilaterally and presenting them with a fait accompli.

Both opposition leaders complained the process for making such sweeping changes is unfair.
“It was a sham, it was a farce ... a PR stunt,” said Brown, who repeated his call for a public inquiry into fundraising.

“She had written her speech - what she intended to take forward - from her own home. Her own home is not the legislature,” said the Tory leader, adding an all-party select committee should be struck to make the reforms.

Horwath said she was “disappointed” at the premier for trying to impose a solution on other parties.

“It became clear in the meeting that only two leaders - myself and Mr. Brown - arrived ready to discuss a process that would give Ontarians the confidence they deserve that the deck isn’t stacked in the premier’s favour,” she said, stressing Greg Essensa, Elections Ontario’s chief electoral officer, should be shepherding the changes.

“I will continue to push for a process that takes the politics out, and puts Ontarians first.”

The government legislation - which will be tabled by Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur - will boast maximum spending limits on third-party advertising by organizations like the Working Families coalition of unions, which has spent millions of dollars over the past four elections on attack ads targeting the Conservatives.

Meilleur’s bill, which is modelled on a federal law in place for a decade, will ban corporations and unions from contributing cash to political parties as of next year, reduce the annual donation cap from $9,975 to $1,525, and slap spending and fundraising constraints on all candidates, including leadership hopefuls.

As well, it will end the practice of parties using byelections to rake in donations far in excess of what’s needed to pay for local campaigns.

Right now, donors are able to exceed the annual $9,975 province-wide contribution cap to a political party by matching that amount during byelection periods.

All three major parties exploit the current law to rake in cash during byelections.

In three contests in over the past 14 months - in Whitby-Oshawa, Simcoe North, and Sudbury - the Liberals have reaped $6,772,999 versus $2,278,167 for the Conservatives and $378,378 for the New Democrats.

Revamping Ontario’s lax political fundraising rules has been on the front-burner since the Star disclosed March 29 that Liberal ministers have secret annual targets of up to $500,000 apiece they are expected to collect.

That revelation led Wynne to immediately announce that new legislation would be coming this fall. On April 4, the premier then fast-tracked things, saying the bill would be tabled in May.

Despite their differences, all three major party leaders - as well as Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, who is to meet with Wynne Tuesday morning - are open to some form of public subsidy, at least during the transition period as parties are weaned off corporate and union donations.

“It’s something that we absolutely need to look at,” the premier said.

If Ontario adopted the previous federal per-vote subsidy of around $2 for each ballot cast for a party, the Liberals would get $3.72 million, the Tories $3.01 million, the NDP $2.29 million, and the Greens $465,000.

Such a system would have some appeal to proponents of electoral reform, who would like to see proportional representation, because every vote counts for something.

But some critics argue election campaigns should not be publicly funded and that parties should get their money from private individuals.