Fundraising cap urged by Liberals

Limit on interest groups to be considered Harper has challenged spending curbs

OTTAWA— The federal Liberals will push this week for new rules to limit fundraising by interest groups that take an active role in election campaigns — and put Conservative Leader Stephen Harper on the hot seat. Tomorrow, cabinet is expected to consider a proposal to bring donations to interest groups in line with existing political financing rules — $ 5,000 for individuals and $ 1,000 for corporations. The limits would apply just for the period of an election. Once approved by cabinet, the Liberals will then push to have the new rules quickly passed by the Commons and in place for the federal campaign, which could begin next week.

However, getting that approval rests on the support of Harper, who in the past has argued that the federal government has no business setting limits on what groups can spend.

During his time as president of the National Citizens’ Coalition, a conservative lobby group, Harper launched a court challenge of the federal limits on interest group election spending.

Last year, the Supreme Court tossed out that appeal. It upheld election- period spending limits set up in 2000, that capped the amount of money special interest groups — other than the registered parties and candidates — could spend during elections to $ 3,000 per riding, up to a total of $ 150,000. The NCC argued that amount was too paltry to mount an effective publicity campaign. Other court decisions have noted that without controls on groups, the special interest money that is now virtually banned from the regular political system would simply flow in through so- called third parties. Now the federal government is looking at reining in these politically active third- party groups even further. While they can’t advertise as much as they could, they can still funnel money to local campaigns for advocacy and pay for workers, a senior Liberal said.

“We’re going to ensure they play on a level playing field,” he said, referring to the proposal to cap what they can bring in from individuals and corporations.

While the proposal is pitched as an initiative to boost fairness, it’s also an effort by the Liberals to mute the conservative think tanks and advocacy groups that could be vocal on everything from same- sex marriage to the Kyoto accord in the campaign. And it’s also an effort to put Harper, who just released his accountability and ethics package, on the hot seat if he comes out opposed to the proposed limits.

“ Will he agree to expedite the process? He’s spoken with great moral superiority about the political process,” said one senior Liberal. The opposition parties are targeting Thursday for introducing a non- confidence motion that will almost certainly topple the minority government next Monday. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan yesterday firmly ruled out pulling the plug on the parliamentary session — likely the only way to avoid a confidence motion — telling CTV’s Question Period

“there is no question about us proroguing. We will not prorogue.” The opposition parties were eager to paper over apparent cracks in their agreement to hold off on toppling the government until an NDP motion calling for a January election call is dealt with.

Party spokesmen said the opposition consensus on Thursday’s motion holds, and that if the Liberals face any other confidence votes before then — there are two money bills that could come up this week, and defeat of either would prompt an election — that there will be sufficient support from either the NDP or the Bloc Québécois for the government to survive.

In a separate segment on the CTV program, Deputy Conservative Leader Peter MacKay jousted verbally with New Democrat MP Libby Davies ( Vancouver East) after suggesting the Tories might not wait until next week to defeat the Liberals. Tory officials later issued a press release clarifying Harper’s support for the three- party deal.