No place for foreign cash in Canadian elections

July 24 will mark the 50th anniversary of a day that changed the course of Canadian history — arguably for the worst.

It’s the day then French President Charles de Gaulle repeated the motto of Quebec’s nationalist movement from the balcony of Montreal’s city hall, exhorting: “Vive le Quebec libre” (long live a free Quebec).

Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who invited world leaders, like de Gaulle, to Montreal for Expo ’67 to help celebrate our country’s 100th birthday, was outraged by his ally’s political poke in the eye and took to the airwaves the next day to make it clear that, “The people of Canada are free. Every province in Canada is free. Canadians do not need to be liberated. Indeed, many thousands of Canadians gave their lives in two world wars in the liberation of France and other European countries.”

But the damage was done. The following year, the Parti Quebecois was formed and Canada has endured two divisive referendums on Quebec separation as a result.

It has long been considered unacceptable for foreigners to try to influence the domestic business of their allies. Which is why a new bill by Senator Linda Frum — Bill S-239 — is so vital to the fairness and integrity of our elections.

The bill, which was introduced on May 30, is designed to plug a loophole in the Canada Elections Act that allows foreign money to be used by third-party groups during elections.

“It should be a clear principle in Canadian elections that foreign interference is absolutely prohibited,” Frum said in a statement. “While the law is clear that Canadian political parties may not accept foreign contributions, third parties are not limited by such restrictions.”

In other words, foreigners who funnel their money into the coffers of third parties at least six months prior to an election, are freer to spend money during Canadian elections than political parties and candidates are. It’s absurd and it’s dangerous.

There is evidence that Tides Foundation — headquartered in New York and San Francisco — donated $1.5 million to nine Canadian third parties in 2015.

According to its own report on the 2015 election, entitled Defeating Harper, sophisticated polling helped the group Leadnow determine the left-of-centre candidate most likely to beat the Conservative candidate in any given riding.

“The Conservatives were defeated in 25 out of 29 ridings and … in the seats the Conservatives lost, our recommended candidate was the winner 96 per cent of the time,” boasts Leadnow in its report.

While Leadnow and Tides have refused repeated requests for an interview, Lyndsay Poaps, executive director of Leadnow, recently answered some questions for Vancouver Sun legislative reporter Rob Shaw, saying, “we don’t accept more than 25 per cent of our budget from international donations.”

It’s an interesting admission from Poaps. While she insists that no foreign money was used by Leadnow in the Canadian election, by receiving up to one-quarter of its funding from foreign interests, a group like Leadnow is freed up to pay for costly election items like polling and flying staff and high-profile volunteers around the country.

Former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley told the Herald recently, “We simply cannot allow any kind of money that is not Canadian to find its way into the Canadian electoral system..”

This is not a partisan issue. If an election can be messed with by the infusion of foreign money to benefit the political left, the same can be done to help the political right.

Canadians must rally to protect the sanctity of our elections. All of Parliament must support this bill.