Quebec puts political financing laws on trial
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 8:15 PM ET
CBC News
Quebec's chief electoral officer, Marcel Blanchet, is asking 12 "jurors" to put the province's political party financing sytstem on trial. (CBC)Chief electoral officer Marcel Blanchet says changes are needed to prevent cheating in the financing of Quebec's political parties, and he's asking 12 average citizens to put the current system on trial.
Former Premier René Lévesque implemented Quebec's current party financing rules, which were considered groundbreaking when they were adopted in 1977.
The rules allow only voters to make contributions to political parties. Companies and unions are prohibited from doing so.
But there are loopholes. Party leadership races aren’t regulated, and municipal parties are allowed to accept up to 20 per cent of their funding in anonymous cash gifts.
Blanchet said it has become clear that cheating is going on, and it is time to update the laws.
"In the last weeks, we’ve seen in the newspapers and in the news, our system is not correct," Blanchet said. "So, what can we do?"
He announced he is forming a "jury" of everyday Quebecers to review the system and propose changes.
Michel Venne, the head of well-known think tank l’Institut du Nouveau Monde, will put forward some options for the jury to consider.
"For example, we ask the question, should companies have the right to give money to political parties?" Venne said.
Controversial debate
Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois defended Lévesque’s law, which caps donations at $3,000 a year per individual.
"We don't think it's necessary to have this participation from corporations or from unions," she said.
But the Liberal government said it agrees changes are necessary.
Quebec’s Electoral Reform Minister, Claude Béchard, said everything is on the table.
The move comes days after Montreal voters re-elected Mayor Gérald Tremblay, despite an election campaign mired in allegations and scandal.
In September, Tremblay was forced to cancel Montreal’s biggest-ever contract after a damning report by the city’s auditor general.
The auditor launched an investigation after allegations that Tremblay's former right-hand man council had vacationed on a yacht belonging to a construction entrepreneur.
Tony Accurso’s firm, Beaudry-Simard, was part of a consortium that was awarded the city’s $355-million water-meter contract in 2007.
Shortly before the election, the city’s former opposition leader, Benoît Labonté, was forced to drop out of the race after revelations he had met with Accurso and accepted donations from him.
Later, in a tell-all interview, Labonte said a "mafia-like system" was running city hall.
He described how political parties — both municipal and provincial — get around the law by recycling corporate cash donations to individuals who would return the money through cheques.
Any changes to the province's financing rules for political parties would have to be adopted by the national assembly before going into effect.
