British Columbians agree with Vicki Huntington when it comes to taking big money out of politics.
That's according to an online survey sponsored by Dogwood Initiative, a B.C. citizens' advocacy group. The survey results made public last week showed 86 per cent of British Columbians would support a ban on corporate and union donations before the next election, including 81 per cent of B.C. Liberal voters and 91 per cent who voted for the New Democrats in the last election.
B.C. is the last large province in Canada to allow unlimited donations from anywhere in the world, including in municipal elections. The group says the survey, conducted by Insights West, suggest this has left the public deeply cynical about the position of ordinary citizens in democracy. It's also what Huntington, the secondterm Delta South independent MLA, said when she introduced a bill in the legislature recently to ban corporate and union donations from provincial and municipal politics.
Her proposal would also limit campaign contributions to $1,500 a year and prohibit donations from individuals living outside the province.
"British Columbia is the Wild West of political finance rules," said Huntington.
She attempted to introduce a similar motion a couple of years ago but saw that proposed amendment defeated.
A few days after she introduced the bill again last month, the NDP introduced a similar motion. The NDP had also previously tried to introduce a similar bill on political financing reform, only to see it defeated as well.
Two years ago, the provincial government did introduce some new electoral financing rules but campaign expense limits and who could donate were not included.
Premier Christy Clark recently promised to legislate even more transparency around political fundraising by introducing "real-time" disclosure of political contributions, but stopped once again short of banning union and corporate donations.
