P.E.I. needs municipal campaign funding rules, says former candidate
Kerry Campbell | CBC News | Posted: June 15, 2016 10:00 AM | Last Updated: June 15, 2016
'When I vote for someone I want to know who's funding them'
A former Cornwall councillor and mayoral candidate is urging the P.E.I. government to create rules that would require candidates in municipal elections to provide the names of campaign donors.
Marlene Hunt, who served two terms on Cornwall council and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2014, applauds the province for promising to bring in stricter rules around donations to provincial political parties, but said reforms are also needed around campaign financing at the municipal level.
There are people out there who will quietly donate to a candidate and not want anybody to know. — Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee
"There are no rules for donations for candidates for mayor and council and I think it's important for transparency that there are," said Hunt.
"It's an open chequebook … I am concerned because municipally, we handle a lot of things. You know we vote on different companies getting tenders … we handle public transit, we handle banning of pesticides ... When I vote for someone I want to know who's funding them," added Hunt.
There are no requirements that candidates in P.E.I. municipal elections disclose where their donations come from, how much they receive or how much they spend on their campaigns.
'Shocked' at lack of rules
When Hunt ran for mayor, she said, she accepted a donation from the Canadian Union of Public Employees for $750. She was shocked, she said, when she notified Elections P.E.I and was told there was no need to disclose the donation.
"When I went down to Elections P.E.I., I was told that there's no receipts given. I don't have to account for that money unless I personally want to, and there's absolutely no record of it kept. So someone could give me $10,000, they could give me a million and there's no record kept."
Elections P.E.I. told CBC News that the municipalities of Charlottetown, Summerside, Cornwall and Stratford could bring in their own rules around campaign financing. None have done so.
The P.E.I. Department of Communities, Land and Environment said the topic will be discussed during upcoming consultations over the new P.E.I. Municipalities Act.
Issue raised in 2014, 2010 municipal elections
This is not the first time the lack of rules around municipal campaign financing has been raised on P.E.I.
During the 2014 campaign, Summerside mayoral candidate — now mayor — Bill Martin cited concerns which he reiterated this week.
"You could conceivably conclude that if someone made a large enough donation to a municipal leader or a municipal representative, that they could potentially buy influence," Martin said. He also said there should be limits on the size of donations.
Martin said he wasn't aware Summerside could create its own rules around the issue.
Unsuccessful lobby effort
In 2010 Clifford Lee, en route to winning his third straight term as Charlottetown mayor, said if successful he would lobby for national guidelines around municipal campaign financing through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
That lobbying never yielded results, Lee said this week, and now he questions the need to bring in any rules around municipal campaigns.
"I guess my only question is, why? … I'm not sure there's a major public benefit to it, but having said that, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it," Lee said.
"I do think that … if you're going to do this, the rules have to be clear before people donate, because there are people out there who will quietly donate to a candidate and not want anybody to know."
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