Even before it starts, the race to renew Ontario’s Liberal party is stuck in time.
Listen to the candidates earnestly talk up future reforms. Then watch how money talks, as the contestants shamelessly revert to past tactics to finance their leadership campaigns.
On Sunday, Glen Murray finally becomes the first Liberal to formally launch his campaign, to be followed Monday by Kathleen Wynne — and with more to come. Collectively, they will hit up a Who’s Who of Liberal patrons for potentially unlimited funding.
Ostensibly, there is a spending limit of $500,000 per candidate for a truncated three-month campaign — compared to $950,000 for a federal Liberal race that will last twice as long and span the entire country.
But there is no fundraising limit for the Ontario campaign. Nor any contribution limit for donors.
Any high roller — whether a benevolent bankroller of democracy or a malevolent manipulator from the plutocracy — can contribute any amount to any contestant. Uncontested.
Liberal party president Yasir Naqvi says the party is counting on the candidates to be reasonable — and to return any unspent money to the party (rather than pocketing it, which seems rather decent). He hastily adds that the party is also abiding by Ontario law — which isn’t saying much, given that in this case the law is an ass. And an anachronism.
The best that can be said about this dubious money-raising racket is that it will be more or less transparent: The law requires full disclosure in “real time” — within 10 days of the cash being deposited in a candidate’s bank account.
“There are no limits, but there is disclosure,” Naqvi told me. The rules “give us the confidence that candidates are going to be reasonable people.”
In principle, I prefer to rely on reasonable rules ahead of reasonable politicians. It doesn’t give me confidence that a wealthy donor can spend as much as he wants to finance a cash-starved candidate.
It’s human nature to press one’s financial advantage. It’s also human nature for a grateful recipient to indulge his patron with an open door policy and rapidly returned phone calls or BBM messages.
The bad odour goes beyond leadership campaigns to general elections, where this province remains a laggard compared to federal spending laws that are more in tune with the times.
An Ontario resident, corporation or union can donate up to $9,300 to a party in any year, plus an extra $9,300 during each campaign period, and another $6,200 to riding associations and a further $6,200 to candidates. It adds up fast, especially if a tycoon flexes both his individual and corporate personalities.
Consider this small example of how RIM made its big money felt in one recent year: Co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, and their immediate family members, donated more than $100,000 to the Liberals — in addition to their hefty corporate contributions, according to Elections Ontario returns for 2009.
Federally, by contrast, the individual donation limit is a mere $1,200 to a party and candidate. More to the point: corporations and unions are barred from contributing, for the self-evident reason that they just might be expecting something in return.
Odd that Ottawa understands this while Queen’s Park remains willfully blind.
Oh, and here’s the kicker: federal law wisely limits leadership contributions to $1,200, circumscribing the infinite appeals that Ontario candidates can make.
In fairness to the provincial Liberals, the Tories and New Democrats behave no better in leadership campaigns. PC Leader Tim Hudak raised more than $1 million for his winning party campaign in 2009.
It’s no way to run a party — or a province. It’s awfully convenient for an incumbent premier, which explains why Dalton McGuinty never updated Ontario’s weak campaign finance laws despite his 2003 promise while in opposition.
Now that the Liberals may be heading back into opposition, perhaps they will once again promise to reform the law — if not for this leadership campaign, then at least for the next one. And the coming general election.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Martin Regg Cohn
Listen to the candidates earnestly talk up future reforms. Then watch how money talks, as the contestants shamelessly revert to past tactics to finance their leadership campaigns.
On Sunday, Glen Murray finally becomes the first Liberal to formally launch his campaign, to be followed Monday by Kathleen Wynne — and with more to come. Collectively, they will hit up a Who’s Who of Liberal patrons for potentially unlimited funding.
Ostensibly, there is a spending limit of $500,000 per candidate for a truncated three-month campaign — compared to $950,000 for a federal Liberal race that will last twice as long and span the entire country.
But there is no fundraising limit for the Ontario campaign. Nor any contribution limit for donors.
Any high roller — whether a benevolent bankroller of democracy or a malevolent manipulator from the plutocracy — can contribute any amount to any contestant. Uncontested.
Liberal party president Yasir Naqvi says the party is counting on the candidates to be reasonable — and to return any unspent money to the party (rather than pocketing it, which seems rather decent). He hastily adds that the party is also abiding by Ontario law — which isn’t saying much, given that in this case the law is an ass. And an anachronism.
The best that can be said about this dubious money-raising racket is that it will be more or less transparent: The law requires full disclosure in “real time” — within 10 days of the cash being deposited in a candidate’s bank account.
“There are no limits, but there is disclosure,” Naqvi told me. The rules “give us the confidence that candidates are going to be reasonable people.”
In principle, I prefer to rely on reasonable rules ahead of reasonable politicians. It doesn’t give me confidence that a wealthy donor can spend as much as he wants to finance a cash-starved candidate.
It’s human nature to press one’s financial advantage. It’s also human nature for a grateful recipient to indulge his patron with an open door policy and rapidly returned phone calls or BBM messages.
The bad odour goes beyond leadership campaigns to general elections, where this province remains a laggard compared to federal spending laws that are more in tune with the times.
An Ontario resident, corporation or union can donate up to $9,300 to a party in any year, plus an extra $9,300 during each campaign period, and another $6,200 to riding associations and a further $6,200 to candidates. It adds up fast, especially if a tycoon flexes both his individual and corporate personalities.
Consider this small example of how RIM made its big money felt in one recent year: Co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, and their immediate family members, donated more than $100,000 to the Liberals — in addition to their hefty corporate contributions, according to Elections Ontario returns for 2009.
Federally, by contrast, the individual donation limit is a mere $1,200 to a party and candidate. More to the point: corporations and unions are barred from contributing, for the self-evident reason that they just might be expecting something in return.
Odd that Ottawa understands this while Queen’s Park remains willfully blind.
Oh, and here’s the kicker: federal law wisely limits leadership contributions to $1,200, circumscribing the infinite appeals that Ontario candidates can make.
In fairness to the provincial Liberals, the Tories and New Democrats behave no better in leadership campaigns. PC Leader Tim Hudak raised more than $1 million for his winning party campaign in 2009.
It’s no way to run a party — or a province. It’s awfully convenient for an incumbent premier, which explains why Dalton McGuinty never updated Ontario’s weak campaign finance laws despite his 2003 promise while in opposition.
Now that the Liberals may be heading back into opposition, perhaps they will once again promise to reform the law — if not for this leadership campaign, then at least for the next one. And the coming general election.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Martin Regg Cohn
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