Money In Politics Campaign

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Money in Politics Campaign

Advocating for stronger and more democratic political donation and spending laws

Money to the Ref??

We don't allow it in sports - but in politics it's legal!
Please help now to get big money out of Canadian politics.
ALERT - it is still legal to make secret donations of unlimited amounts of money, products and services to all types of provincial and territorial political candidates, and to federal nomination race and party leadership candidates!!

List of Information/Links on this Page

Documents produced by the Money in Politics Campaign
Please donate and/or send letter using Action Alert
Please print and use Good Government sticker/door sign
Organizations: Join the nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition by signing on to the 10 Recommendations to Clean Up Canada's Political Finance System
Summary of Third Party Advertising Spending Limits Court Case
ORDER FORM: For the Best Government Money Can't Buy: How to Make Canada's Political Finance System Democratic (June 1999)
Links to Databases of Donations to Canadian Political Parties & Politicians

Democracy Watch has produced the following documents in its Money in Politics Campaign:
(in reverse chronological order)

NEWS RELEASE: Canadian Federal Government Far From Owning the Podium on Democracy and Government Accountability -- Drops to 11th in Global Integrity's New Annual Report -- Another Accountability Act Needed (March 1, 2010)
RADIO PIECE: Examination of the federal Conservatives' democratic reform and accountability record featuring Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher (CBC Radio's The Current, February 4, 2010 -- or click here and then click on link to Part 3 of the show) -- To see Democracy Watch's Report Card on the Conservatives' record, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: As Democracy Watch has detailed in many reports over the past 16 years, no ruling party, nor Parliament overall, has done enough to reduce the federal government's democratic deficit (Lawrence Martin's column, Globe and Mail, January 28, 2010) -- To see some of Democracy Watch's recent reports, click here
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Court judge dodges issue of legality of federal Conservatives' 2006 election ad spending scheme -- Elections Canada must appeal or prosecute to get ruling that clarifies the issue (Macleans.ca, January 20, 2010, Winnipeg Free Press, January 23, 2010, and Hill Times, January 25, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Once again, federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson protects Cabinet ministers with flawed ethics ruling, this time approving of them handing out government cheques labelled with Conservative Party logo (Canada.com and 5 CanWest News Service newspapers across Canada, January 14, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch's successful court challenge leads to stronger restrictions on federal lobbyists giving gifts and doing favours for politicians, parties and government officials (Maclean's magazine, December 23, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives' Accountability and Democratic Reform Record Earns Only an "E" Grade For Breaking Many Promises and Practising Politics As Usual -- Three Years After Federal Accountability Act Became Law, Dishonesty, Conflicts of Interest, Excessive Secrecy, Unlimited Donations and Patronage All Still Legal -- Another, Stronger Accountability Act Needed (December 16, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: As International Anti-Corruption Day Passes By, Canadian Governments Continue to Fail to Fulfill UN Convention Against Corruption Requirements and Other International Standards (December 9, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Liberals Reject Good Government Amendments to Their "Bad Government Act" -- Dishonesty, Secret Unlimited Donations, Secret Lobbying, Excessive Secrecy and Conflicts of Interest Still Allowed, and Independence of Public Inquiries Undermined (December 3, 2009) -- To hear related interview on CIUT Toronto's "Take Five" morning show, click here (NOTE: The interview starts starts at the 3:30 min. mark of the show, and ends at the 15:30 min. mark of the show)

Donations to Canadian and U.S. Political Parties, Candidates (Both Nomination Race and Election Candidates), Riding Associations and Party Leadership Candidates

Elections Canada (agency that oversees federal Canadian political donations)

Donors to Federal Political Parties, Nomination Race and Election Candidates, Riding Associations, and Party Leadership Candidates (1997 on (but only 2005 on for party leadership candidates) on Elections Canada website)
Enforcement of the federal Canada Elections Act
How to complain about a violation of the federal Canada Elections Act
Elections Canada research documents

Elections Canada's Summary of Canadian Federal, Provincial and Territorial Election Laws (as of May 1, 2008 -- Please note that laws in some jurisdictions may have changed since May 2008)

Donors to Canadian Province of Ontario's Political Parties, Candidates and Leadership Candidates (lists from1995 on at the Elections Ontario website)
Province of Saskatchewan's Political Finance Rules (Elections Saskatchewan website (can also be searched for lists of donors))

Office of the Federal Canadian Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (agency that oversees and enforces federal Canadian MPs' ethics rules and registeries of gifts to MPs -- See below for details)
Canadian federal Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (see especially November 2009 Guideline on Rule 8 in the Code)
Donations to U.S. Political Parties and Candidates (link is to OpenSecrets.org website)
Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (U.S. organization that tracks developments in government ethics, money in politics and lobbying laws across North America)
Global Integrity (non-governmental organization that, through an international research effort involving local organizations, individuals and journalists, rates countries good governance and anti-corruption systems and democratic processes)

Page last updated March 1, 2010

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Photo by Sonia Murphy