Campaign For Municipal Election Financial Transparency

As part of CFRU 93.3fm’s coverage we are asking all candidates whether they are willing to report contributions to their campaign before the election takes place on October 25.

The current Ontario Municipal Election Guidelines require only that all donations greater than $100 are recorded and reported in a financial statement, however that information is only made public after the election has taken place.

We do not believe that this is in the public interest. To ensure election transparency, we believe the information on who is donating to individual campaigns should be available to the public before they go to the polls.

We also do not believe it is appropriate that municipal election candidates accept donations from corporations and unions, groups that are not eligible voters. Campaign donations from corporations and unions have already been banned in Toronto.

We have therefore asked ALL candidates in the election to answer the following questions:

1. Are you willing to make all donations to your campaign greater than $100 public during the election campaign period rather than requiring citizens to wait for the post-election financial report?
2. Will you be accepting donations from corporations?
3. Will you be accepting donations from unions?
4. If you are willing to make all donations to your campaign greater than $100 public during the election campaign period, how will you make this information available to the public?
5. In other municipalities, 10 days before election day, candidates will disclose via their website or Facebook page, all contributions received up until 2 weeks before election day. Do you support this for Guelph?

The replies we receive from candidates will be posted on our election website, www.voteguelph.ca.

Stand Up For Democracy in Guelph!

For more on this issue listen to Municipal Election Radio, Tuesdays 7-9 a.m. on CFRU93.3fm in Guelph. Remember if you don’t catch Municipal Election Radio live, you can always pick it up later that day via the CFRU archive or on voteguelph.ca, a day or so later.

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