In a recent post on facebook Integrity BC congratulated the Vancouver city council for passing a motion asking for caps and limits on financial contributions to political organizations and individuals running for office. There are spending limits and strict rules at the federal level in Canada, and in most provinces. BC, however, has no such limits. This allows those with the greatest financial resources the greatest opportunity to concentrate and consolidate the public's attention on one candidate or party versus another.
From a democratic standpoint, why are these limit important? The answer has to do with why we value democracy as a system of government in the first place. Aside from being the least oppressive form of government in human history thus far (not to say it's not possible for democratic regimes to be oppressive, just that democracies have had a better track record than the alternatives), one of the main tenets of democracy is the assumption that no one person or group of people should have more rights to make decisions concerning society at large than any other one person or group of people. In other words, we assume that everyone within a given society should have an equal opportunity to participate in the decision making that affects each other's lives. This doesn't suggest that everyone has an equal ability to do so, simply that the opportunity to participate should be equally held by all the citizens of a given community.
And so, from this standpoint, allowing those with disproportionate financial resources unlimited access to utilize these resources in the political sphere violates this foundation of basic equality. To be sure, in a market capitalist economy there will always be economic inequality, and so you might argue that this is unavoidable. But does this mean we should have no limits whatsoever? Limits on the amount that can be provided from a single source help ensure that political parties and individuals running for office must appeal to more citizens for support.
Should we not make some attempts to broaden the possibilities for political involvement beyond the narrow scope of those with seemingly unlimited financial resources? A level playing field will never be achieved, but perhaps we can achieve one with less of an incline.
