Political Financing in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan citizens overwhelmingly don’t want charities, publicly funded institutions or out of province actors making political donations

A new poll commissioned by Progress Alberta and done by Mainstreet Research shows an overwhelming rejection of the status quo of campaign finance law in Saskatchewan. The vast majority of the residents of Saskatchewan do not want out of province money in their political system nor do they want donations from publicly funded institutions or registered charities in their political system either.

The poll comes on the heels of a recently published online database compiled by Progress Alberta that detailed the last nine years of corporate donations to Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party. The database can be viewed at BradWallTookMoneyFromWho.ca

“Accepting donations from charities, out of province actors and publicly funded institutions is unscrupulous, unprincipled and undemocratic. Saskatchewan needs campaign finance reform now,” said Duncan Kinney, executive director of Progress Alberta.

Should government funded organizations like cities, libraries, universities be allowed to donate money to Saskatchewan political parties?

No – 81 per cent

Yes – 7 per cent

Not sure – 12 per cent

Should out of province money be allowed to fund political parties in Saskatchewan?

No – 69 per cent

Yes – 11 per cent

Not sure – 20 per cent

Should registered charities be allowed to donate money to Saskatchewan political parties?

No – 74 per cent

Yes – 9 per cent

Not sure – 17 per cent

Voter Intention in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Party – 45 per cent

NDP – 31 per cent

Liberal – 4 per cent

Green – 4 per cent

Undecided – 16 per cent

METHODOLOGY

Mainstreet surveyed a random sample of 1,673 Saskatchewan Residents by Chimera IVR™ on November 1st-2nd, 2016. A mixture of landlines and cell phones were surveyed. Margin of error: +/- 2.4%, 19 times out of 20.

For more information, contact Progress Alberta.