Money In Politics
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March 9, 2005
BC HAS WEAKEST LAWS ON MONEY IN POLITICS
(Victoria, BC) A report released today by the Conservation Voters of BC (CVBC) shows that BC shares with Alberta the dubious distinction of having the fewest safeguards preventing big money from dominating politics.
“With political ads now hitting the BC public, voters need to ask why we allow corporations and unions to bankroll our political debate, even though these entities are not voters,” said Matt Price, Coordinator of CVBC. “BC has fallen behind other provinces in ensuring that our democracy is not corrupted by big money interests.”
The report called Democracy for Sale? – Ending Big Money’s Dominance of BC Politics shows:
- Manitoba and Quebec have banned corporate and union donations outright and the federal government has drastically restricted them
- In the past seven years, corporations and businesses have donated over $29 million to the BC Liberals, accounting for 68% of its donations, while labour put $2.7 million into the BC NDP, accounting for 10% of its donations
- As we are now seeing, unlike the federal government BC has no controls on third-party spending during elections
- Five provinces and the federal government have caps on donations – BC has none
- Every province other than BC and Alberta have direct public financing for candidates to level the playing field
The report recommends that BC catch up to other provinces in getting big money out of politics by: banning corporate and union donations, limiting the amount that any one voter can donate, by direct public financing of candidates, and by limiting third party spending during elections.
To view the report, visit www.conservationvoters.ca/forsale
For more information contact Matt Price at 250-661-2965