P.E.I. Liberals out-fundraise all other parties combined again

For at least the fifth year in a row the P.E.I. Liberal Party raised more money than all others on the Island combined.

• P.E.I. Liberals continue to draw biggest donations

It was an election year on P.E.I. in 2015 and all the parties upped their fundraising game, but none of the contenders came close to matching the Liberal effort.

The amounts raised by the parties, as released by Elections PEI, were

• Liberals: $870,965.30.
• PCs: $487,840.71.
• NDP: $76,836.00.
• Green: $23,243.00.

Political fundraising was up 73 per cent over 2014.

The Liberals, PCs and NDP all received donations from corporations and unions, in some cases worth up to $15,000 thousand each.

New campaign financing rules on the way

Under proposed legislation, those contributions would become a thing of the past.

• P.E.I. to restrict political donations

The province has announced it will table legislation this fall setting out contribution limits, together with rules that stipulate only individuals can make political contributions.

Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker said the changes are long overdue.

"Governments have to make difficult decisions every single day, all the time," said Bevan-Baker.

"When you mix in the potential, whether it's real or whether it's perceived, [of] the influence of large sums of money, then any decision a government makes can be viewed as being tainted."

Bevan-Baker said the contribution limits set out by Premier Wade MacLauchlan for the new legislation are too high.

MacLauchlan has suggested individuals could be allowed to donate up to $3,000 a year. Bevan-Baker believes $300 would be enough.

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