Alex Cullen calls for end to corporate or union donations

A former Ottawa city councillor and current candidate in the upcoming municipal election is calling on the province to ban corporate and union donations to candidates.

• LISTEN | Earlier this month, Ottawa Morning talked to both sides of the debate on corporate donations

Alex Cullen says the current system, in which corporations are allowed to make donations but individuals within the corporation are also allowed to make separate donations, gives companies that do business with City Hall an unfair advantage.

Cullen looked at publicly available data from the financial statements all candidates filed following the last municipal election in 2010, which lists all campaign contributions, as well as the names of donors who gave more than 100 dollars.

The numbers showed that companies that do business with the city — developers, construction companies, engineering consultants, waste management companies, taxi companies — put the majority of their combined contributions in 2010 behind just 19 candidates for councillor...and that all but two of those candidates were elected.

Cullen said he wants the province to change the Municipal Election Act to ban all corporate and union donations.

The City of Toronto has already done this on its own, and there are some who have been calling for Ottawa to follow suit, particularly in relation to developers.

While Cullen points out the correlation of corporate donations and victory in the election, his analysis doesn't stretch to conclude that those donations give companies more influence on decision makers. But he suggests that's why the donations are made.

"They help winners win...and they do it for a purpose," said Cullen.