Pandering to the public perception

Public opinion is a powerful thing, and Oshawa council would be wise to remember it.

If given the option, the city should follow in Toronto’s footsteps and ban the practice of allowing corporations and unions to shell out cash for municipal election campaigns.

It’s not that citizens should be worried about councillors having their votes greased by a mere $750 as Councillor Bob Chapman says, but they should be weary because Chapman was wrong about one thing. The optics of councillors receiving large chunks of their campaign funds from big business is not good.

Corporations, specifically developers, who provided a large chunk of the corporate donations in 2014, do have a vested interest in this community, as he said, but it’s an interest in business.

Citizens need to be able to trust their councillors, but when one sees a contract awarded to a company that gave councillors money during the election process, the optics can be poisoned, even though the contract may have gone to the best company for the job.

The same can be said for some bylaws that get passed. For example, a controversial bylaw was passed that saw barbecues banned from the lakefront. However, the year before saw many councillors receive donations from the Jubilee Pavillion. While A doesn’t necessarily lead to B, with councillors having unrelated reasons for putting forward such a proposal, some citizens will still draw a connecting line between the two.

For many, trusting a politician is a pipe dream, but councillors can help themselves if they remove this practice. Toronto did just that in 2009.

At the very least, councillors can vote to improve the practice by sharing the affiliations of those handing over cash.

Anyone with Internet access and a quick Google search can determine that a large percentage of Mayor John Henry’s donors listed as individuals have links to the development community, with many of the same companies providing funds to other councillors as a corporation, rather than as an individual.

While Henry may be right in saying he was receiving the donations from friends, rather than the companies they own, the optics don’t look good.

Councillors would be wise to avoid the trouble of these bad optics, and just get rid of the practice altogether.