14 Jan 2009 QUEEN’S PARK—NDP Democratic Reform Critic Michael Prue is urging the McGuinty government to ban all corporate and union donations to municipal election candidates in light of a new report revealing the extent of developer influence over the 2006 municipal election campaigns in the Greater Toronto Area. The report, written by Canadian university professor Robert MacDermid, shows that at least 50 per cent of 2006 municipal election donations in Pickering, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Brampton, Oshawa, Whitby and Missisauga came from corporations and developers. “Under the current laws, deep-pocketed real estate developers simply have too much influence over municipal election outcomes,” said Prue. MacDiarmid found that developer-supported candidates were much more likely to emerge as winners in the 2006 municipal elections: winning candidates received 54 per cent of their funding from developers, whereas losers only received 35 per cent. “In order to ensure that serious municipal candidates have the resources to get their message out to prospective voters, incentives should be put in place in all municipalities that would allow people who donate to civic election campaigns to get a partial rebate on their contribution,” said Prue. Such a rebate program now exists in Markham, Oakville, Ottawa and Toronto. “All Ontarians have the right to fair and unbiased municipal election results that serve the interests of communities, not private interests,” said Prue. “Since developer-beholden city councils are unlikely to ban corporate donations, the McGuinty government needs to step forward and implement a province-wide ban.” At the provincial level, election financing laws in Manitoba and Quebec already ban union and corporate donations while providing political parties with modest financial compensation based on the number of votes cast for party candidates. -30-
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