James Wood, Saskatchewan News NetworkPublished: Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saskatchewan's Tax rules on political donations are increasingly out of step with the rest of the country and should be significantly tightened up, says a former provincial chief electoral officer.
Saskatchewan is one of only four provinces to have no limits on how much a contributor can give to a party or candidate.
Meanwhile, on the federal scene and in Manitoba and Quebec, corporations and unions have been banned from making political donations.
Those two provinces are joined by Alberta in banning contributions from out-of-province. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut, where there are no political parties, have also banned outside contributions to candidates................
The Saskatchewan Party had a huge financial advantage last year, raising $4.79 million, with $3.02 million from corporate donors and $1.6 million from individuals.
The NDP, which had beaten the Sask. Party in fundraising in each of the three years previous, raised $2.28 million. Of that amount, $1.28 million came from individuals, $585,502 from corporate donors and $166,000 from unions.
Last week, Premier Brad Wall continued a practice of the Sask. Party in opposition by attending a $400-a-plate party fundraising dinner in Calgary and a private fundraising reception in Edmonton.
Kuziak noted that such practices make it even easier to drum up corporate cash but there is an even greater inherent problem with out-of-province fundraising.
"People that don't vote and don't have a right to vote and shouldn't be able to meddle in Saskatchewan provincial affairs can do so by funding Saskatchewan political parties. That's the big problem," he said.
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