Don’t let money distort politics
Trying to stave off the corrupting influence of money in politics is a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole. Whenever one threat to the integrity of our democratic process is beaten into submission, it seems another pops up.
Despite several worthy attempts by the federal government in recent decades to tighten the rules governing campaign financing, Ottawa has failed to keep up with the ever-shifting flows of democracy-distorting money.
A new report, commissioned by the Trudeau government and published by the Public Policy Forum, an Ottawa-based think tank, presents a number of common-sense suggestions for how to whack more moles more effectively. Trudeau et al. should implement its most urgent recommendations before the next federal campaign. And the province and city, too, should pay attention as each approaches an election.
The report focuses in particular on two related issues: the growing influence of under-regulated third parties — that is, entities other than candidates or political parties that advertise during a campaign — and a troubling influx, largely through third parties, of foreign money into the process.
These problems emerged in large part in response to sound campaign-financing reforms introduced over the last two decades. By imposing a limit of $1,575 on individual political donations and banning corporations and trade unions from making campaign contributions, the federal government rightly sought to ensure that the wealthiest few could not wield undue influence in the democratic process. But these new restrictions also created an incentive for those with money and a political agenda to fund third parties, which are governed by far laxer rules.
During the 2015 federal campaign, 114 third parties were registered with Elections Canada, an increase of more than 100 per cent from the previous election. This trend, which can be observed at the provincial level, too, is cause for concern.
Unlike political parties, third parties are subject to spending limits only during election campaigns and only for advertising. As the Public Policy Forum report points out, “electoral activities such as polling, phone canvassing, using social media and organizing volunteers are not covered.”
Nor, under the current rules, is it possible to track the extent to which foreign money funds these political activities. While foreign actors are prohibited from donating to political parties, they are allowed to contribute unlimited sums to third parties outside of election campaigns.
Finally, while third parties can effectively behave like partisan entities during election campaigns, they are not subjected to the same level of public scrutiny. It can be hard to determine exactly how much they are spending, on what, and where that money came from.
In a number of ways, then, the lax regulation of third parties can be used by wealthy donors and foreign actors to end-run the spirit of the Elections Canada Act. The new report rightly suggests a number of fixes to this problem, including imposing the same limits on third-party financing that exist for political parties; enhancing transparency rules for third parties around election campaigns; and limiting political contributions of any kind to eligible voters. (This last one may be impracticable, but it is at least directionally right.)
Only Canadians should be allowed to influence our political process and each should have an equal opportunity to do so. These are central tenets of a healthy democracy, yet they are not fully reflected in the current regime. The Trudeau government should ensure that the next election is fairer than the last.