Liberal leadership contenders not required to disclose campaign contributions

Both candidates in the race for the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party leadership — a contest that will automatically elect the province's next premier — promised this week they'll make all their campaign donations and expenses public.

But neither John Abbott nor John Hogan are actually required to do so under the contest's rules — and the timing and nature of the disclosure is still entirely up to them, thanks to a loophole in the province's elections law.

During provincial elections and byelections in Newfoundland and Labrador, candidates and parties face strict rules on campaign spending and must publicly disclose donations they receive and the names of donors.

However, the same requirements don't apply to party leadership races, despite more than 20 years of promises from Liberal and Progressive Conservative leaders to tighten up the rules.

While parties have their own internal reporting processes during leadership races, candidates decide themselves whether and when to make donations public.

PC promises

In 2003, PC leader Danny Williams, then leader of the opposition, pledged to bring in new legislation and require that leadership candidates publicly disclose all donations received during their campaigns. He also promised to cap donations during leadership races and bring in a ceiling for candidates' spending.

A little more than a year before, Roger Grimes had won a Liberal leadership race plagued by accusations of backroom deals.  

"These are very serious issues that are eroding the people's confidence in government," Williams said at the time, suggesting the current rules — or lack thereof — allowed for "blatant abuses of office," as well as "questions of campaign contributions and suggestions of impropriety during leadership conventions."

The PCs swept to power a few months later in November 2003. But during the party's 12 years in government, it never required candidates to publicly disclose leadership contributions.

Liberal promises

Ten years after Williams's promise, newly elected Liberal leader Dwight Ball's "secret" campaign spending came under the microscope. In 2013, while still opposition leader, Ball promised "open and accountable" government and revealed of his own accord the $313,000 in donations he'd received during the race.

Ball also recommended the Liberal Party executive change its rules to make public reporting of campaign contributions mandatory for all future leadership races.

"Full disclosure on political contributions is clearly the only way to be truly open and transparent," Ball told CBC News at the time.

But, once again, the promised changes were never made.

In 2020, when the Liberals launched a leadership race to pick Ball's successor, the party said it was up to candidates to decide whether to make their donations and expenses public.

"We would ask that the candidates consider at the end of their campaign when they get their audits done that they be open and make that available", said then-party president John Allan at the time.

Possible Ball precedent, but disclosure still not mandatory

Ball's 2013 disclosure seems, however, to have set a precedent for Liberal leadership hopefuls.

After the 2020 race, both candidates — Abbott and current Premier Andrew Furey — released the list of contributions they received and the names of donors.

Furey received about $310,000 during the campaign, while Abbott netted just over $210,000.

For the current leadership contest, whose rules became public this week after Furey's surprise resignation on Feb. 25, the Liberal Party set a $200,000 spending cap for candidates — a new measure to avoid "exorbitant" spending, according to Judy Morrow, the chair of the committee overseeing the race.

However, the rules currently do not make the public disclosure of campaign contributions mandatory for candidates.

"It is an internal process, whatever we decide to do," said Morrow on Wednesday.

"Regarding the details of the financial piece, we haven't worked that out yet. In fact, we're meeting later this week and that's one of the items on the agenda. We will be reviewing that with each of the candidates and their campaign teams as soon as they are green lit and qualified as a candidate."

2023 PC race 

For the PC leadership race that elected Tony Wakeham in 2023, the party set a $225,000 spending cap. It also had similar rules to the Liberals, requiring only the disclosure of donations and financial statements to an internal party committee overseeing the contest.

"If you would like a copy of Mr. Wakeham's statement, we would be happy to provide it to you promptly upon request," PC Party spokesperson Nathan Ryan wrote in an e-mail on Wednesday, adding that all candidates in the 2023 race complied with the rules.

Radio-Canada requested a copy of Wakeham's financial statements and a list of his campaign contributors on Wednesday. The party, so far, has not shared those documents.

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