Majority back ban on corporate and union donations to B.C. political parties
By Contributor
A majority of British Columbians support a ban on corporate and union donations to B.C. provincial political parties, according to a public opinion survey commissioned by IntegrityBC and conducted by the Mustel Group on their BC Omnibus.
When asked: “Do you believe that corporations and unions should be prohibited from donating money to B.C.’s provincial political parties?,” almost two to one were in favour (59 per cent Yes, 31 per cent No, 10 per cent undecided).
IntegrityBC has been campaigning to ban corporate, union and out-of-province donations to B.C.’s political parties since 2011. The organization is also calling for a cap on personal donations and a Citizen’s Assembly to review the B.C. Election Act and Local Government Act and make recommendations on other electoral reforms.
The BC NDP, Conservative party, Green party and BC First support a ban on corporate and union donations. B.C.’s three Independent MLAs seeking re-election (Vicki Huntington, Bob Simpson and John van Dongen) called for a ban in February.
In 2012, Vancouver City council unanimously passed a motion that called for a ban and a cap on annual donations to political parties and candidates. Vancouver’s four major municipal parties supported the motion. On March 11th, the Vancouver Park Board unanimously passed a motion, moved by commissioner Trevor Loke, calling for the same reforms.
Newspapers across B.C. have also added their editorial weight to these goals including the Prince George Free Press, the North Shore News and the Victoria Times Colonist.
Survey conducted: February 28th to March 12th, 2013
Methodology: Random telephone sample of 500 BC adults, 18 years plus
Margin of error: ±4.3% at the 95% confidence level.
This article is a press release from IntegrityBC.
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