Marc Mayrand. Courtesy Elections Canada

Canada’s chief electoral officer warned that if Ontario goes too far in restricting funding to political parties, it risks creating "the permanent campaign."

Marc Mayrand spoke to the standing committee on general government in Kitchener Tuesday, as MPPs tour the province to consult on Ontario’s election financing legislation.

Mayrand spoke from his federal experience and, while he didn’t recommend what contribution limits or what level of public funding for parties would be best for Ontario, he cautioned MPPs on the “risks” of making both too low.

“Obviously, the greatest risk is that parties turn to illicit or undisclosed funding strategies that give rise to even bigger problems of undue influence,” he said.

“Another risk is what some have described as the permanent campaign," he continued. "That is, because political entities can no longer secure large donations coming from a few donors, they must make efforts to obtain smaller amounts of money from a much broader pool of individuals. To motivate this source of potential donors, we see a continual state of campaigning. This phenomenon is perhaps not without its consequences on the overall tone of political discourse and the level of public cynicism.”

Those comments cast a different light on the many comments the MPPs have heard about the relative ethical benefit of numerous, small donations, from politically motivated individuals — rather than large donations from wealthy individuals, corporations and unions.

MPPs asked Mayrand to weigh in on Ottawa’s rules for ministers about conflicts-of-interest in fundraising. The important thing, said Mayrand, is that rules exist.

The first question was from PC MPP Steve Clark, who asked him about whether he thinks the federal cabinets’ guidelines for ministers, concerning their relationships with stakeholders and lobbyists, should be codified as legislation.

Mayrand noted the federal guidelines are public, issued by cabinet at the prerogative of the prime minister and used by the commissioner of ethics, Mary Dawson, in her investigations.

“Whether this should be in the domain of the commissioner of ethics is something to consider,” he added. “The most important thing is that those guidelines exist, that they are public and they are subject to discussion if they’re not adequate to deal with various situations.

"I would have to think more about that,” he added.

Both opposition parties have been heavily critical of government ministers’ “cash-for-access” fundraising, and have expressed concerns that raising money from stakeholders in this manner places them in a conflict-of-interest — and that there is no law to prevent this in Ontario. Both parties, however, are yet to describe exactly what approach they want to see taken to curb this kind of fundraising.

NDP MPP Catherine Fife asked Mayrand a question about the federal rules in this area.

“What Bill 201 does not address, though, is that it does not prohibit raising money from stakeholders or trading cash for access,” she stated, in a lead-up to her question. “You have cabinet ministers who can’t meet with stakeholders during business hours. They can only meet them for dinners or breakfasts or lunches. You have special stakeholder dinners with very high ticket prices — $10,000 per person.”

“You mentioned that this conflict-of-interest threshold is determined by cabinet at the federal level, or through the commissioner of ethics?” she asked.

Maryrand told her that at the federal level, it’s not a matter of a threshold, but three sets of rules: cabinet’s rules and federal conflict of interest legislation, which are overseen by the commissioner of ethics, as well as federal fundraising law, when it applies.

“Conflict-of-interest regulation tends to be much broader than matters related to political contributions and fundraising activities. I think the commissioner would be better placed to discuss her role and how she approaches it,” he said.

He added that in some cases all three sets of federal rules can intersect.

Canada’s chief electoral officer warns Ontario of risks of ‘permanent campaign’

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