Today, NDP Leader Trent Wotherspoon tabled a bill that will get big money out of Saskatchewan politics by updating Saskatchewan’s outdated and broken campaign finance laws.
“Saskatchewan’s democracy should be for Saskatchewan people, free from questions of influence from corporate or union donors, and not for out-of-province companies looking to pay-to-play,” Wotherspoon said. “It’s long past time for Saskatchewan's elections laws to be brought up to date. The introduction of the bill is that first important step.”
The bill bans corporate and union donations and restricts personal contributions so that only individuals who are residents of Saskatchewan can make donate and those donations are capped so they cannot exceed $1275.
“The people of Saskatchewan are on board with bringing this legislation in line with provinces throughout the country, and there is no good reason for the Sask. Party not to work with us to change these broken rules,” Wotherspoon said.
Aside from polls that show a majority of Saskatchewan people believe out-of-province companies should not be allowed to donate to political parties, business and union leaders have supported the idea of banning corporate and union donations.
“On behalf of our 100,000 working members, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour fully supports this bill to update the province’s political donation laws,” said Larry Hubich, president of the SFL. “Limiting donations to only Saskatchewan citizens will enable us to have some faith in the political process once more, and to regain trust that political parties are looking out for regular Saskatchewan people as opposed to the interests of big corporations from outside our province.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has also publicly supported banning corporate and union contributions to Saskatchewan political parties.