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BC remains the Wild West for political donations: prof

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – The next provincial election is less than six months away and a watchdog group is once again calling for a ban on corporate and union donations to political parties.

This week, Integrity BC reiterated its push for a ban on corporations and unions from donating to campaigns, much like Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, and the federal government have done.

“It’s wide open,” admits Michael Prince, a political scientist at the University of Victoria.

“Anybody, anywhere in the world can make any size of a donation to a BC political party.”

Despite calls for change, Prince says both the BC Liberals and the New Democrats have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

“The NDP’s position is, ‘Yes, but we’ll table a bill and we’ll bring it in after we’ve been elected as a government. And why would we shoot ourselves in the foot as long as the Liberals are continuing to roll in serious money on corporations?'”

If you take corporations and unions out of the equation that leaves individual donors or having taxpayers fund campaigns instead.

Prince says there’s not much of an appetite to shift the burden to the taxpayer.

“That’s part of what Mike de Jong, the finance minister here provincially, says. ‘You know, I don’t think people want to subsidize us in this political activity.’ I’m not entirely sure about that. I think polls show British Columbians are open to other ways of doing this.”

He points out parties in other provinces are doing quite well with individual donations, proving you can fundraise using what he calls a grassroots, populist approach.

You can sign the Integrity BC petition here.

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