Referendum rules will ensure 'level playing field,' MacLauchlan says

Amid speculation the next provincial election could be called as early as this spring, Premier Wade MacLauchlan said his government is ready to table legislation which will set out spending and fundraising rules for a referendum on electoral reform.

MacLauchlan promised to hold the referendum in conjunction with the next provincial election after Islanders voted in favour of mixed-member proportional representation in a plebiscite in the fall of 2016.

At the time, the premier called the results "debatable" given voter turnout of 36 per cent.

This week, MacLauchlan said legislation to allow the referendum will be debated in the spring sitting of the legislature, which begins Thursday.

Besides the referendum question itself, MacLauchlan said the bill will include rules to ensure "a level playing field and transparency" with regards to any campaigning attached to the referendum.

"That's why we need a referendum act, is to set out those ground rules, to set out that framework so Islanders will have a chance to give a clear answer to a clear question, and feel that the process was fair and fully debated," the premier said.

Concerns over campaign funding

Following the 2016 plebiscite, concerns were raised, including by then-backbench Liberal MLA Bush Dumville, about how the Coalition for Proportional Representation funded its promotional campaign in the lead-up to the vote.

"The proportional representation lobby and Honour the Vote campaign is well organized with advertisements, robocalls, social media pressure," Dumville, now an independent MLA, told the House on Nov. 22, 2016.

"It appears to be a well-funded lobby of special interest groups. I do not want our province to be covered by special interest groups. I want P.E.I. to be governed by parties which have broad-based policies and which garner the support of a wide range of Islanders."

At the time, Dumville challenged the media to find out whether funding for the campaign had come from unions, special interest groups, or from off-Island sources.

$75K in funding

PR Coalition member Mark Greenan told CBC News this week the 2016 campaign received $75,000 in funding, which included $5,000 leftover from a publicity campaign for the previous plebiscite on electoral reform in 2005.

Of the remainder, he said approximately $20,000 came from political parties, $30,000 from unions, and $20,000 from individual donors.

"To me, using the word 'transparency' probably would mean the same standards of disclosure that are applied to Prince Edward Island political parties," Greenan said.

Currently, political parties on Prince Edward Island are required to submit annual reports to Elections PEI including total contributions for the year, along with the names of donors who provided $250 or more.

There are currently no limits on how much individuals, corporations or unions can donate to political parties, although the premier has promised to introduce limits. There is also no restriction against donations from out-of-province.

Greenan said those would be "reasonable requirements" for disclosure with regards to the referendum, but said if transparency for groups like his "means something more than the standards that the governing party applies to themselves, then I think maybe Islanders might ask themselves why."

Greenan noted at the time of the plebiscite there was no requirement for groups like his to disclose sources of amounts of funding.

He also wondered why his group was not consulted with regards to the pending new legislation.

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