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April 1, 2016
Dear Premier Wynne:
Members of the Ontario PC Caucus and I are hearing daily from Ontarians who are very concerned about the apparent influence of political fundraising on the business of government.
As a former Member of Parliament, I supported the changes made to both political fundraising rules and third party election advertising at the federal level. These changes allowed for a levelling of the playing field during elections and assured Canadians that the democratic process remained fair, balanced and devoid of undue influence.
Along with Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer, the Ontario PC Caucus has long demanded changes to third party election advertising. The Government has twice voted against our suggested changes, and your commitment to bring in much needed reforms in this area are now almost a year overdue.
As such, your recent comments that you intend to bring in reforms for political fundraising and advertising this coming fall do not carry much weight with the people of Ontario. We in the Official Opposition, along with them, say that real movement on these reforms has been delayed far too long.
We agree with the Leader of the New Democratic Party that the process for bringing in reforms should begin with a meeting of the leaders of all three parties and that the process must include broad consultations with the public. That is why I am also proposing that on Monday, April 4th, the Legislature immediately strike a Select Committee, with equal representation from all parties, to carry out public consultations on reforming both political donations and third party election advertising. With goodwill from all participants, the Select Committee could report back to the Legislature in a thoughtful and timely manner.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Patrick Brown, MPP (Simcoe North)
Leader of the Official Opposition
c.c. Andrea Horwath, Leader of the New Democratic Party |
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