An analysis by a democratic watchdog says a $75 limit should be placed on all Canadian political donations and public funding, similar to the system in Quebec.Democracy Watch (DWatch) released its unprecedented study of political donations, loans and taxpayer-funded subsidies to the main federal parties between 2016 and 2022. Last year was not included because most final stats are not yet available.Duff Conacher, co-founder of DWatch says his study suggests a need for drastic changes.“Canada’s current undemocratic and unfair big money political finance system is rigged in favour of wealthy donors, wealthy candidates, big parties and the big banks," Conacher said."The best way to make the system fair and to stop the unethical influence of big money in Canadian politics is to stop big money donations and loans and, if the parties can prove they need it, provide donation-matching public funding, loans from a public fund and election campaign cost reimbursements to all parties and candidates."DWatch concludes that to have fair, ethical and democratic federal elections and policy-making processes, the annual donation and loan limit should be lowered to $75. The organization wants the same changes across Canada, except in Quebec which already has a $100 donation limit, donation-matching and other public funding. DWatch said the worst potential for undue influence exists in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon because unlimited donations are still allowed from businesses, unions, other organizations and individuals.An infographic webpage summarizes the key findings of the study, and contains links to detailed charts and analytical documents. The study found about 75% of donors to the main federal parties donate only about $75 a year. Only 5% of donors donate more than $1,000 a year. This means only 11,000 of Canada's 27 million voters donate this much. These large donors provide 40% of Liberal donations and 30% of Conservatives.The system favours wealthy nomination contestants as they are allowed to donate $1,000 to their own campaign, wealthy election candidates who are allowed to donate $5,000 to their own campaign and wealthy party leadership contestants who are allowed to donate $25,000 to their own campaign;DWatch says allowing big money donations facilitates illegal funnelling of large amounts of money to federal parties, including foreign governments funnelling donations through front-groups and individuals in Canada and gives big money donors unethical influence over politicians;Only about 240,000 voters donate each year out of more than 27 million voters, and 9 out of 10 donate less than $500. All taxpayers give about $27 million each year to the main parties in subsidies through tax deductions. And after each election all taxpayers give the main parties about $34 million, and their candidates about $29 million, in direct reimbursements of 50% and 60% of the money they spent on their election campaign.A small number of banks loan the main parties 70% to 80% of the total amount of money they spend each election. DWatch would prefer this money came from a public fund.Lowering the donation limit to $75 would mean the parties would have to attract $75 donations from only about 500,000 more voters (out of the more than 26 million who don’t donate now) to raise the same amount they currently raise each year. The Conservatives would need about 220,000 more donors, the Liberals about 170,000, the NDP about 63,000, the Greens about 30,000, and the Bloc about 10,000.Conacher's PhD thesis contains most of the research and detailed recommendations, in Chapters 3 and 6 of the thesis.
