Citizens must act to ban Corporate and Union Campaign Donations in Ontario

On Wednesday, December 2nd Toronto City Council voted 29 to 12 to ban corporate and union campaign donations in elections. VoteToronto with Fair Vote Canada led this fight, along with Councillors Michael Walker and Cliff Jenkins. Mayor David Miller refused corporate and union donations in the 2006 election, and his continued support of this reform was a significant contribution to the effort to marshall the votes on council to pass the reform.

But this is just the beginning of the struggle to reform municipal election practices. As Robert McDermid's study, "Funding City Politics," (available in PDF on this website) clearly shows, the real problem of corporate donations is not in the City of Toronto, it is in the GTA municipalities that surround Toronto. As the Toronto Star editorial (copied below) states, now is the time for the province to act to pass legislation banning corporate and union campaign donations.

Provincial action is the only way to make municipal election reform effective, but we know that this will not happen before the next municipal election in 2010. There is now only one alternative: citizens must act.

In every municipality across Ontario, outside Toronto, citizens must mount a campaign to demand that candidates not accept corporate and union donations. Political power rests with the people, and when the politicians refuse to act then we must exercise our rights to demand reform from the politicians that represent us.

Toronto Star Editorial: "City opens door to election reform"

December 04, 2009
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/734293--city-opens-door-to-election-reform

A door previously closed to provincial election reform has swung open in Ontario with a bold push from Toronto.

Voting 29-12, an impressive majority of city councillors confounded the cynics this week by banning union and corporate donations. They put service to democracy ahead of their own self-interest. In the interest of fairness, equity and consistency, the province should now follow the principled example set by its largest municipality.

Queen's Park has two options: First, it could put its own electoral house in order by banning corporate and union donations in provincial elections. Such contributions are already banned at the federal level, in our two neighbouring provinces, and now in Toronto. How many more good examples does Ontario's Liberal government need to see before doing the right thing?

Second, at the very minimum, all municipalities should be given the power to ban corporate and union donations if they choose to do so. As of now, only Toronto has that power. Other civic leaders, including Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, are eager to follow Toronto's lead, if only the province would give them the chance.

Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson has said it would be "hypocritical" to empower all municipalities to ban corporate and union donations while the province continues to allow them. And that's, indeed, true. But Queen's Park ought not to let its own inertia get in the way of the municipalities inclined to do the right thing.

It's no exaggeration to say that what's involved here is a fundamental enhancing of democracy.

Simply put, the ban passed in Toronto ends the right of corporate executives and labour leaders to give more money to candidates than the average voter. They can routinely give twice as much – once as an individual and then again through their business or union. And executives whose companies have multiple subsidiaries can give many more times than that.

Since the amount of money candidates raise has a strong bearing on election outcomes, corporate and union donations can unfairly tilt the system against the interests of other residents.

Corporate donors, in particular, "tend to focus on winners," notes York University professor Robert MacDermid, an expert on election financing. "They tend to focus on candidates who are incumbents." That undercuts challengers and limits the success of newcomers in municipal politics. By banning corporate and union donations in Toronto, "candidates who come from underprivileged groups now have a fighting chance to win an election," says MacDermid.

That alone justifies this change.

Councillor Michael Walker, who doggedly pushed for reform over eight years before finally prevailing on Wednesday, described the shift as a first step – but a giant step. "We've broken the dam of resistance," he says.

One hopes that Walker is right and that the provincial government's stubborn reluctance to undertake serious election reform might soon be worn away.

Reasons why corporate and union campaign donations should be banned in municipal election campaigns.

  • Corporate and union campaign donations are now illegal in Canadian federal elections and elections in Quebec and Manitoba.
  • Donations such as this are made to further the objectives of private interests and allow organizations with financial resources to have an undue influence on who gets elected.
  • Corporations and unions are not citizens and do not have the right to vote. Why are they allowed to make campaign donations and influence elections?
  • By allowing corporations and unions to make campaign donations the individuals who control these organizations are granted more rights than other citizens because they can make donations as individuals and in the name of corporations or unions.
  • These types of donations give incumbent politicians an unfair advantage over challengers because incumbents have a greater ability to raise these donations than other candidates.
  • Candidates should be financed by the constituents they represent. If citizens believe they have done a poor job, then they will not be able to raise funds for re-election.
  • Elections must be transparent and fair if they are to have the support of the electorate. As long as corporate and union donations are allowed, it gives the impression that elections can be bought by wealthy interests. Elections must not only be fair, they must appear to be fair in the eyes of the public.

    • How Toronto City Councillors voted on the motion to ban corporate and union donations

    In Favour - 29

    Ainslie, Ashton, Bussin, Carroll, Cho, Davis, De Baeremaeker, Filion, Fletcher, Ford, Giambrone, Heaps, Holyday, Jenkins, Lee, McConnell, Mihevc, Milczyn, Miller, Moeser, Nunziata, Palacio, Pantalone, Perks, Saundercook, Stintz, Thompson, Vaughan, Walker

    Opposed - 12

    Augimeri, Del Grande, Di Giorgio, Hall, Kelly, Lindsay Luby, Mammoliti, Minnan-Wong, Moscoe, Ootes, Parker, Perruzza

     

    Community Groups

    • VoteToronto
    • Fair Vote Canada
    • CommunityAIR
    • Social Planning Toronto
    • Toronto Women’s City Alliance

    Individuals

    • Robert MacDermid, Professor of Political Science, York University, VoteToronto
    • Larry Gordon, Executive Director, Fair Vote Canada
    • Alan Broadbent, Chair and CEO of Avana Capital Corporation, the Maytree Foundation and the Caledon Institute
    • Wayne Samuelson, President, Ontario Federation of Labour
    • Paul Farrelly, community activist, VoteToronto
    • Bill Freeman, author, VoteToronto and CommunityAIR
    • Mark Stoller, community activist, VoteToronto
    • Linda Heron
    • Meyer Brownstone, Professor Emeritus, Political Economy, University of Toronto
    • Peter Russell, Professor Emeritus, former CSPA President, University of Toronto
    • Neil Thomlinson, Chair, Dept. of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
    • April Aliermo
    • Jim Harris, former leader of the Green Party of Canada
    • Chris Tindal, democratic reform advocate, Green Party of Canada
    • John Deverell, journalist, former president of the Southern Ontario News Media Guild
    • John Sewell, former mayor, City of Toronto
    • Michael Shapcott, housing activist
    • Robert Eisenberg, York Properties

    If you support the VoteToronto and Fair Vote Canada position, contact your Toronto City Councillor and explain your views on this important issue.

    Prof. Robert MacDermid's study, "Funding City Politics", is available for purchase from the Centre for Social Justice. Click here to buy a copy.

    What is VoteToronto?

    VoteToronto is an independent, non-partisan community organization that is committed to protecting and enhancing Toronto’s quality of life and long term sustainability, by making political processes transparent, encouraging high quality, un-corruptible candidates to run for political office on a progressive, community-based platform, and holding politicians at all 3 levels continuously accountable for the long term good health of Toronto and its residents. Read more about VoteToronto and what we stand for in the About VoteToronto section.

    DISCLAIMER

    Data on contributions to candidates over $100 is derived from the official election returns filed by each individual candidate with the elections officer. Names of contributors to more than one campaign may be normalised from that listed on the offical return.

    While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of contribution data, VoteToronto cannot guarantee the accuracy of data collected from third parties. VoteToronto will strive to correct any inaccuracies brought to its attention. This should be done by e-mailing info@votetoronto.ca.

    VoteToronto is independent of any organized political party. VoteToronto’s editorial positions are arrived at by reviewing voting records, campaign contribution records, the organization and funding of candidate campaigns, and community references and candidate positions on issues of the day. VoteToronto reserves the right to change its assessment of issues and candidates, at any time, as other information comes forward.