Councillor says Regina should examine influence of corporate donations after Saskatoon quashes proposed ban

Saskatoon councillors quashed an effort to ban corporate and union donations in civic elections on Tuesday but Regina councillor Andrew Stevens said the discussion of campaign financing shouldn't die.

"At the very least, we need to examine the influence of these sources outside of individuals," Stevens said.

"If I were to vote on it now I would actually lean toward supporting a ban on corporate donations," Stevens said. 

"We see, in Saskatchewan especially, large corporations in resource extraction, in the building and development industry — they wield a lot of influence and certainly way more influence than organized labour."

Earlier this week, Saskatoon councillors voted against two separate motions to ban the donations, as well as to approach the provincial government to receive the power to make the changes. Some councillors argued companies have the right to participate in a democracy.

In 2015, councillors voted against a similar motion.

In Regina, one can donate to a politician. 

However, mayoral candidates have to disclose the name of each contributor who donates more than $500 and councillors have to release the names of those who donate more than $200. 

Campaigns "bankrolled" by corporations or unions could create questions around who politicians really work for, Stevens suggested. 

However, Stevens said the most the city could do would be create momentum to lobby the province for change. 

"The city's themselves don't actually have the power to change this," he said. 

He said the province is lagging behind several others that have already banned corporate and union donations.

Donations 'not a pressing problem,' prof says 

"I think that there are a lot more important issues to deal with right now," said Saskatoon political scientist Joe Garcea.

He looked at the Saskatoon donation numbers from the 2016 election and was surprised that there was only a few particularly large numbers that stood out.

"There isn't a pressing problem."

Garcea said there won't be a problem so long as there are good disclosure laws that reveal the major contributors.

Secondly, he said clear conflict of interest laws can prevent politicians from discussing or voting on issues tied to their key funders and allow them to be held to account if they do.

Garcea said the public's perception of politicians can shift with too much focus on financial contributions and governance.

"People have the impression that you're not dealing adequately with you know, potholes and infrastructure and housing and other kinds of issues," he said.

He said the legitimacy of municipal governments could suffer.

Province 'resistant' to regulation trend

Tightened regulations on elections and campaign financing is a continuing Canadian trend for all levels of government. 

"It's also basically an anywhere in the democratic world except the United States trend," said Jim Farney, who is an associate professor in the University of Regina's department of politics and international studies. 

That's because people have begun to see politicians and parties more like Crown corporations rather than private clubs, he said.

"The counter argument is once you start regulating, you start having the government of the day basically tilt the table one or or another."

The topic of political contributions from unions, corporations and out of province has been part of the provincial dialogue for a few years now, Farney said. 

People want to prevent the political process from adhering too closely to those with money or in-kind contributions.

The NDP had put put forward a bill to ban union and corporate donations, as well as restrict donations from out of province. However, the Sask. Party voted against it.

"The provincial government so far has been very resistant," Farney said.