Watchdog says political donations need closer eye

VANCOUVER— As another scandal plays out in Ottawa, government watchdog groups are calling for wider scrutiny of SNC-Lavalin’s activities in jurisdictions like British Columbia, where the company donated to the ruling political party at the same time it was being awarded large public infrastructure contracts.

However, the watchdog groups also argue that the evidence and allegations of corruption against the Quebec engineering firm demonstrate why all corporate donations need stronger rules and regular audits.

“It’s essentially a form of legalized bribery,” said Duff Conacher, founder of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, refer- ring to lax rules allowing corporations that benefit from political decisions to donate to political parties.

For years, Democracy Watch has advocated for campaign finance limits because of the risk that large donors can wield oversized influence on politicians who start to feel more beholden to the wealthy people, corporations and unions that fund their campaigns than to the wider electorate.

Though Quebec, British Columbia and the federal government have lowered donation limits and banned union and corporate donations, companies have found ways around those regulations. Conacher said the rules end up being a “charade” without regular audits.

For example, Conacher noted, in 2016, the federal election commissioner found SNC-Lavalin had funnelled $118,000 in donations to the federal Liberal and Conservative parties, meaning that senior executives asked employees to make donations as individuals; the company then reimbursed employees through “fictitious bonuses or other benefits.”

In an emailed response, the Liberal Party said it returned the money and improved its donation acceptance procedures.

The Conservative Party of Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dogwood, a B.C. environmental organization, is calling for a deeper examination of SNC-Lavalin’s activities in British Columbia and a full inquiry to examine possible links between political donations and public works contracts. Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission, which concluded in 2014, found that many companies, including SNC-Lavalin, regularly bribed politicians to get government contracts.

“To be fair to (SNC-Lavalin), we haven’t found the same allegations about how they’re operating in B.C.,” said Lisa Sammartino, a campaign coordinator with Dogwood.

“Quebec knows because they had an investigation … But I think it’s worth looking at the bigger picture of how the company operates and that bigger picture of how we give out our public contracts.”