Who's pulling the strings?

>> Corporations cannot donate money to Quebec political parties, but that doesn't mean they have no influence

by PHILIP PREVILLE

This week, the National Assembly returned to work for one express purpose: to change the Quebec Elections Act. The changes will establish new rules and increase limits for campaign spending by "third parties" (people or organizations other than political parties, such as unions, lobby groups, non-profit corporations or businesses), effectively making it easier for them to have a voice in the electoral process.

There is no controversy surrounding this particular change: both sides have agreed to it, and the Liberals have agreed to help the Parti Québécois fast-track that particular amendment. Passing the new legislation is the last order of business before the election is called.

Unfortunately, the fast-tracking of the new legislation will cut short a broader debate on the financing of Quebec political parties. Technically, current laws only allow contributions by individual citizens, up to a maximum of $3,000 per year. But that doesn't mean corporations never make political contributions; it just means it's impossible to find out who's giving what to whom.

Rules favour PQ

The current laws on political contributions in Quebec were first adopted under René Lévesque's Parti Québécois government in 1978. Since then, Quebec politicians have often lauded this province's rules as an example of "real" democracy, where influence cannot be bought. But Liberal MP Christos Sirros, who sits on the National Assembly's committee on electoral reform, says the PQ had partisan reasons for changing the rules.

"Back in 1978, the Liberal party was seen as the party of the establishment, whereas the PQ was a grassroots party," Sirros told the Mirror. "They changed the rules so that everyone's financing had to come from the grassroots. They called it a boost for social democracy, but what it also meant was that the Liberals had to learn a new way of soliciting funds, while the PQ didn't."

And, says Sirros, times have changed considerably: back then, few businesses were willing to support the PQ, but such is no longer the case. "If you look at their books, there are all sorts of people in law firms and engineering firms who give them money." The PQ may not be the darlings of the corporate community, but they do have their business backers.

Not that you'd ever be able to figure out exactly who they are. Each year, Quebec's Director General of Elections (DGE) publishes a report of all the donors to each of Quebec's political parties, and the PQ is notorious for making its list of donors as convoluted as possible.

In the 1996 edition of the report, for example, the Liberal party provides a single list, 43 pages long, of all their donors in alphabetical order--making it easy to look up the name of a particular donor. The PQ, by contrast, provides a total of 126 lists totalling almost 300 pages: one list for donations to party headquarters and one list for each of the 125 ridings in the province.

Untraceable connections

PQ president Fabien Béchard told the Mirror he didn't know why his party lists its donors that way. And Bernard Rénald, spokesperson for the DGE, would only say that the PQ's reporting of its donors is "legal." Rénald also defended the current system: "Only individual voters may contribute. It's one of the great, great principles of Quebec democracy."

Or it's one of the great, great myths. The current regulations aren't that difficult to get around. If corporations want to make a donation to a political party, they can funnel contributions through sympathetic individual employees. Each donor must provide a home address, but not a business address--thus making any corporate connections difficult to trace. (New Jersey, where the system is similar to Quebec's, is currently considering a proposal to include business addresses on the donors' lists.)

Consider, by contrast, the federal system, where corporations are allowed to contribute. In that case, at least, it's easy to find out who is trying to purchase influence. The five big banks, for example, contributed a total of $250,000 to the federal Liberals in 1996 alone. So if the Liberal government decides to allow the big bank mergers, at least we have some idea why.

Though Sirros says the Quebec Liberals are content with the current system, he admits that "there is some hypocrisy in the current system. What matters is that there are limits on what you can contribute, and that the system remains transparent."

At a time when corporations have more influence than ever over the political system, a little more transparency might be welcome.