There is no wonder we see governments no matter what party or leader acting againsts public interests and failing on their promises to be more transparent and accountable. This will continue until election laws and donation rules are strengthened and enforced to better protect our democracy. There needs to be meaningful consequences for breaches.
Elections Canada says there is nothing in current legislation to prevent outside groups from raising money and then passing those donations along to third-party advertisers. However, the group Democracy Watch plans to file a complaint with the federal elections commissioner about over $312,000 in donations from one group alone.
Elections Canada has said third-party groups are required to disclose all of their donations but the law doesn’t deal with how those donors got that money.
“They have to list the contributor, that’s what the regulations say,” but “They don’t have to list the contributors’ contributor.”
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Even the donations tracked here that were paid directly has totaled over $2 Billion since 1993.
http://special.nationalpost.com/follow-the-money/feature
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