A petition calling on the Liberals to lower donation limits for ongoing election financing reforms is likening current proposals to bribing referees at sporting games.

"Money to the ref? We don't allow that in hockey or basketball or other sports - but in politics it's legal," reads the Change.org petition by Democracy Watch and its subsidiary Money in Politics Coalition, which was signed by 9,000 people and delivered to the premier and opposition leaders.

The non-profit organization is calling on the Liberals to lower proposed limits on donations made to political parties and candidates, which it says favours the rich over average constituents.

"While some of the bill’s proposals are good steps forward, the proposed individual political donation limits are clearly undemocratic and unethical because they will allow wealthy people to give thousands of dollars more to parties and candidates than an average voter can afford. The Ontario Liberals' proposed high donation limit will only obscure the corrupting influence of donations from wealthy interests, not stop it," said Duff Conacher, director of Democracy Watch, in a statement.

Instead, Conacher said Ontario rules should mimic Quebec's, where donations are capped at $100. In 2013, Quebec was prompted to lower the threshold after it was revealed that strawman-esque donations were being funnelled to political parties through private companies.

"The high donation limits will, as Quebec’s experience shows clearly, also facilitate and hide corrupting large donations from business and union executives and their families," he added.

As currently proposed, the Liberals' rules would allow individuals to donate up to $1,550 each to a party, candidate or riding association every year, and up to $3,100 during the election period (down from $9,975).

Parties could also get publicly funded per-vote allowances, at $2.26 per vote received in the previous election. Corporate and union donations would be banned, and limits on third-party ad spending would be imposed at $100,000, or up to $600,000 in the six months leading up to an election. Party ad spending would be capped at $1 million in the six-month pre-writ period.

Moreover, letting candidates contribute up to $5,000 for their own campaigns (and $25,000 for leadership contestants), gives those who can afford it a leg-up.

"Allowing candidates to donate thousands of dollars to their own campaign undemocratically favours wealthy candidates," Conacher added.

To make things fairer, Democracy Watch wants individual contributions capped at $200, public funding to match the first $20,000 raised by candidates and up to $200,000 raised by the parties annually, the per-vote subsidy lowered to $1, public disclosure of gifts or money received by corporations, unions or like groups, and campaign finance and ethics watchdogs to have the power to conduct audits at random.

The petition comes as the government's election financing bill is set for a slew of summer committee meetings, with the first slated for June 27. In a rare move, Bill 201, the Election Finances Statute Law Amendment Act, went to committee after first reading, in order to have the opposition, chief electoral officer and unions weigh in.

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Proposed election financing rules favour the rich, Democracy Watch warns

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