Legislation to eliminate the corrupting influence of unlimited politician political donations in B.C. politics is long overdue.

The legislation introduced Monday by the B.C. Liberal Party, which has opposed such initiatives for years, is a transparent act of political desperation. Moreover, the legislation is insufficient.

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Before the May 9 provincial election, the Liberals argued for unlimited donations, suggesting that real-time reporting of donations was sufficient.

On May 12, the party reported that it deposited $914,751.50 in donations on that single day.

Then, two weeks ago, the party announced it would stop “real-time” reporting of donations all together.

Following the election, both the NDP and B.C. Liberal Party have been asking their supporters for money quickly on the premise that there might be another election soon. As a corollary benefit, if such donations are subsequently restricted, each party will, no doubt, hope to take advantage of millions in donations collected before they become illegal.

The financial benefit of delay in campaign finance reform for the outgoing government might help explain why the premier elected to hold onto power for several weeks rather than resigning.

In the context of this unseemly rush to collect huge sums of money, campaign finance reform requires one additional element: retroactivity to May 9. Political parties should be required to return any money collected following the general election that doesn’t conform with the new rules.

Only small, personal, donations should be permitted. This will eliminate the buying and selling of access and influence.

To permit political parties to game the system by depositing donations three days following an election or to collect donations immediately before it becomes illegal would be to reward the kind of cynical behaviour the public has become rightly tired of.

Michael Mulligan

Victoria