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NEW BRUNSWICK

New Brunswick’s biggest political donor between 2007 and 2015 is — by far — the Irving group. The family’s businesses, which include operations in the oil and gas industry, shipbuilding, forestry and newspapers, employ one in 12 people in the province and account for more than half of New Brunswick’s exports.

Legislation passed last summer banned union and corporate donations, and lowered the cap on contributions from $6,000 to $3,000 a year. But politicians did manage one last kick at soon-to-be-outlawed fundraising: In advance of a June 1st deadline, the CBC reported parties raised about $700,000.

1. Irving Group of Companies: $131,713.86

The Irving group of companies (worth $10 billion, according to Canadian Business) made 91 donations: $79,815.93 to the Progressive Conservatives, $44,897.93 to the Liberals, and $7,000 to the NDP. The bulk of these contributions came from J.D. Irving Ltd and Irving Oil, both of which are perennial recipients of government assistance. The latter made headlines last year when the government reassessed the value of its Canaport LNG property in Saint John from about $300 million to $98 million — effectively slashing the company’s annual property taxes.

2. Toronto Dominion Bank: $83,754.40

The bank, which won $8.9 million in government funding last year to open a business services centre in Moncton, has 37 donations on record: $45,754.40 to the Progressive Conservatives and $38,000 to the Liberals.

3. Insurance Brokers Association of New Brunswick: $63,961.21

Combined, this association and its federal affiliate, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, made 56 donations: $39,166.85 to the PCs and $24,794.36 to the Liberals.

4. Bell Aliant: $59,933.86

This subsidiary of Bell made 33 donations, split mostly between the Liberals ($32,815.77) and the PCs ($24,704.09), with the remainder ($11,000) going to the NDP. In 2016, Bell Canada also donated $4,843.50 to the Liberals care of its offices in Verdun, Que, and $1,500 to the NDP from a Newfoundland address.

5. GTECH: $56,818.77

This gaming machine manufacturer started in Moncton under the name Spielo. It was acquired by GTECH in 2004 but continued to make most of its donations — 48 in total — under its old name: $30,746.20 to the Liberals, $25,072.57 to the Progressive Conservatives, and $1,000 to the NDP.

6. Debly Companies: $55,158.86

To avoid exceeding the province’s $6,000 donation limit, the PCs returned $10,800 in contributions from Debly Resources, Debly Enterprises and a numbered company called 632504 NB Ltd in 2014. All three share the same headquarters, the same director, Majid Debly, and do significant work for the government. Debly Enterprises alone billed New Brunswick $13.4 million for road construction and other costs between 2010 and 2014. Together, the three companies made 41 donations in this database: $47,277.70 to the PCs, $7,681.16 to the Liberals and $200 to the NDP.

7. Rogers Communications: $53,234.42

The 31 donations from Rogers mirror changes in political power. When the PCs were in office, between 2010 and 2014, the company made the majority of their contributions to that party ($21,520 versus $13,579.90 for the Liberals). When leadership changed hands in 2014, Rogers shifted the bulk of its donations to the Liberals ($9,392.18 versus $3,240 for the Tories). In total, the donations recorded in this database add up to $27,498.98 for the Liberals and $25,735.44 for the Progressive Conservatives.

8. St. Isidore Asphalte: $52,780.64

This paving, excavation and crushing company made 81 donations adding up to $34,028.22 for the Liberals, $18,552.42 for the Tories and a $200 nod to the NDP.

9. Molson Coors Canada: $51,880.55

The Canadian arm of this brewing company, one of the largest in the world, made 32 donations in New Brunswick: $28,940.22 to the Progressive Conservatives, $20,940.33 to the Liberals and $2,000 to the New Democratic Party.

10. Labatt Breweries: $41,130.99

One of Molson’s chief competitors made 25 donations: $23,963.42 to the PCs, $15,667.57 to the Liberals and $,1500 to the NDP.

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NOVA SCOTIA

Nova Scotia caps political donations at $5,000 a year, the highest contribution limit in the country until Manitoba matched that amount in 2017.

The ruling Liberal party has also hosted “cash-for-access” fundraisers, where donors pay up to $750 a person to meet with the premier and other senior government leaders.

In October, NDP Leader Gary Burrill raised concerns about the practice, calling for Premier Stephen McNeil to follow fellow Liberal Justin Trudeau in releasing a list of attendees after each exclusive event. (The Progressive Conservatives also hold regular fundraisers which cost $100 a month to attend.)

Corporate and union donations have been banned in N.S. since 2009, but between 2011 and 2015 parties raised a total of $5.2 million from named donations (individual donations above $199.99). The Liberals received $2 million; $1.9 million went to the NDP; and $1.3 million went to the PCs.

The Nova Scotia Elections Act requires that the full address of every donor be disclosed. However, only about one-third of donations provide an address with a street name, municipality and postal code. The other two-thirds list only a municipality, making it difficult to distinguish between donors with the same name.

For the list below, names without detailed addresses were checked against the Yellow Pages. If more than one person with the same name was listed in a specific community, they were excluded from the list. Out of an abundance of caution, so were donors with the same names who had contributed from one address for several years, and then from another.

1. Michael Kontak: $25,000

Michael Kontak of Halifax served as chief of staff to three Nova Scotia premiers. He made five donations of $5,000 to the Progressive Conservatives each year from 2011 to 2015. Kontak is currently on the board of directors of CARE, an Ottawa-based charity combating global poverty.

2. Peter Covert: $25,000

Peter Covert of Hammonds Plains made five donations of $5,000 to the Liberals each year from 2011 to 2015.

3. Wadih Fares: $18,068.38

Wadih Fares is the founder of Halifax-based real estate development company WM Fares Group. Fares made 12 donations: $7,691.24 to the Progressive Conservatives, $7,504 to the Liberals, and $2,873.12 to the NDP.

4. Rose Wilson: $17,798.36

Rose Wilson from Halifax made five donations, all to the Liberals. Wilson is listed on LinkedIn as the co-principal of Wilsons Fuel Co. Ltd., which competes throughout Atlantic Canada with Irving Oil Co. gas stations. In addition to her political donations, Wilson is a major philanthropist who was given an honorary degree from the University of King’s College in 2013. At the time, her support for Symphony Nova Scotia, the Cathedral Church of All Saints, the Citadel High Legacy Campaign, as well as the university, were cited.

5. John Risley: $12,969.54

Clearwater Fine Foods co-founder John Risley made seven donations: $8,879.10 to the Liberals and $4,090.44 to the Progressive Conservatives.

6. J. William Ritchie: $12,795.22

Businessman J. William Ritchie made four donations, all to the Progressive Conservatives. Ritchie has been a key player in the Nova Scotia business community for decades. A 2012 Chronicle Herald profile of Ritchie cited him as the oldest member of the Halifax Club, which he joined in 1958.

7. Jim Spatz: $12,404.86

Real estate developer Jim Spatz made eight donations: $6,374.86 to the Progressive Conservatives, $3,780 to the Liberals and $2,250 to the NDP. Spatz is the CEO of Southwest Properties Ltd., one of Atlantic Canada’s leading real estate developers.

8. Mary Clancy: $11,935.52

Former Liberal MP for Halifax, Mary Clancy made five donations, all to the Liberals.

9. Sonia Felix: $11,664.01

Sonia Felix, CEO of health-care staffing company RJF Healthcare Services, made four donations, all to the Liberals.

10. Charles Cartmill: $11,504.94

Charles Cartmill, founder of LED Roadway Lighting, made nine donations: $7,300.28 to the NDP, $2,365.36 to the Progressive Conservatives, and $1,839.30 to the Liberals.

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PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Despite Premier Wade MacLauchlan’s May, 2016, promise to ban corporate and union donations and limit individual gifts to political parties to $1,500, Prince Edward Island remains one of the last provinces with no caps on contributions.

The Liberal leader backtracked after speaking with then-Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Fox, which led to allegations by Green Party leader Peter Bevan-Baker of party “collusion” to keep corporate and union donations.

Fox rejected the accusation. And the following December, MacLauchlan said he would impose a $3,000 limit on corporate, union and individual donations, which would come into effect on Jan. 1, 2018. To date, however, there have still been no legislative changes.

That doesn’t mean the issue of political financing is dead. As newly elected PC Leader James Aylward told the CBC last fall: “I’m a firm proponent on not allowing corporate (or) union donations.” And indeed he did not take money from either during his run for party leadership.

Between 2007 to 2016, though, the biggest donors to both the Liberals and PCs were almost all corporations.

1. Cox & Palmer: $105,412.87

Law firm Cox & Palmer is deeply enmeshed in Prince Edward Island politics. Liberal Education Minister Jordan Brown is an associate at the firm, which has won various government contracts, including representing the province in a battle with the privacy commissioner. The firm made 23 donations, giving $65,305.45 to the Liberals and $40,107.42 to the Progressive Conservatives.

2. Irving Group of Companies: $90,125.79

The majority of donations from this group (23 in all) came from Cavendish Farms. Other contributions came from J.D. Irving Ltd., Irving Shipbuilding, Cavendish Produce and Cavendish Agri Services. All told, the Irving companies gave $52,413.78 to the Liberals and $37,712.01 to the Progressive Conservatives. Cavendish Farms also donated $1 million to Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in August, 2016, which the P.E.I. chapter of the Council of Canadians claimed in a CBC story was an attempt to pressure the provincial government to lift the moratorium on high-capacity irrigation wells.

3. McInnes Cooper: $83,507.86

McInnes Cooper is a law firm with offices in Charlottetown as well as five other cities in Atlantic Canada. Starting in 2009, the firm was involved in a controversial attempt to make P.E.I. an online gambling regulator. Then finance minster Wes Sheridan, Mi’kmaq Confederacy executive director Don MacKenzie and McInnes Cooper lawyers Gary Scales, Kevin Kiley and Mike O’Brien formed a working group which met regularly at the firm’s Charlottetown office. The project was supposed to bring in $20 million a year in new tax revenue, but after more than three years of work it failed to get off the ground. Auditor general Jane MacAdam sharply criticized the project for its secrecy and use of public funds. She said about $1.4 million was spent by the P.E.I. government, but because McInnes Cooper did not co-operate with her investigation she has been unable to determine how much of that went to the firm. After her report was released, the Mi’kmaq Confederacy asked McInnes Cooper to make some files available to the auditor general and the firm agreed. The firm has made 17 donations: $56,621.56 to the Liberals and $26,886.30 to the PCs.

4. Bell Aliant: $77,714.56

Bell Aliant Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of telecommunications giant Bell Canada, signed a sole-source agreement with the provincial government in 2008 to serve as the province’s exclusive telephone services provider. In exchange, Bell promised to provide internet access to 56 rural communities. The sole-source nature of the deal, which was renewed in 2010 and 2013 without public announcement, drew ire from Bell’s potential competition. Bevan-Baker, whose Green party won a second seat in a late November byelection, has been particularly critical of the deal. His party has not received any money from Bell. It wasn’t until January 2017 that the full contract, including the $23.3-million price tag, was released following an order by P.E.I.’s privacy commissioner, according to The Guardian in Charlottetown. The company made 22 donations, giving $50,373.32 to the Liberals and $27,341.24 to the Progressive Conservatives.

5. Maritime Electric: $72,798.25

Maritime Electric is a subsidiary of Fortis, an electric utility company and the top donor in Newfoundland and Labrador. The company has made one donation of approximately the same amount to both the Liberals and PCs every year except for 2012, when they gave only to the Tories. In total, the company’s 19 donations add up to $36,964.06 for the PCs and $35,834.19 for the Liberals.

6. Scotiabank: $63,687.33

Scotiabank made 29 donations, primarily under its own name, as well as through Scotia Wealth Management, Scotia Capital and ScotiaMcLeod Inc: $44,115.45 went to the Liberals and $19,521.88 to the Progressive Conservatives.

7. A & S Scrap Metals: $53,802.15

This recycling centre in Charlottetown made 16 donations, giving $42,598.09 to the Liberals and $11,204.06 to the Progressive Conservatives.

8. Superior Sanitation Services: $48,358.50

This Charlottetown-based waste management company operates about 50 trucks for more than 1,800 customers in P.E.I. The company made 19 donations: $27,684.38 to the Liberals and $20,674.12 to the Progressive Conservatives.

9. Kenneth Clark: $47,514.77

Charlottetown lawyer Kenneth Clark made 10 donations, giving $46,514.77 to the Liberals and $1,000 to the Progressive Conservatives.

10. Royal Bank of Canada: $44,288.67

The Royal Bank of Canada made 39 donations, giving $22,294.43 to the Progressive Conservatives and $21,994.24 to the Liberals.

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

Communications companies — all of which work on government contracts — accounted for three of the top 10 donors in Newfoundland and Labrador between 1996 and 2015. In many provinces, businesses are banned from political contributions. In Newfoundland, there is not even a cap on how much they (or any other donor) can give.

This could explain why the region’s politicians raised $5.5 million between 2011 and 2015, compared to just $5.2 million in nearby Nova Scotia — which has almost double the population.

The NDP have been calling for a ban on both corporate and union donations in Newfoundland and Labrador. In June, they won support from an unlikely source: longtime Tory politician Tom Marshall.

“I know there’s (sic) people out there that will say, ‘Ah, you’re all a bunch of crooks.’ So the way to show them we’re not is to just ban it,” said Marshall, who served as premier in 2014.

Premier Dwight Ball defended the current system, however, saying: “It’s not legalized bribery.”

Elections Newfoundland and Labrador posts annual lists of donations, but often takes more than a year to do so.

1. Fortis: $360,780

Fortis is an electric utility with customers in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean. Fortis’s 104 donations are almost evenly split between the PCs ($197,460) and the Liberals ($163,320).

2. M5 Marketing Communications: $355,017

Based in St. John’s, M5 took over its rival, Bristol Group, in 2010. It is now one of Atlantic Canada’s largest communications companies, with clients including all of the region’s governments as well as Newfoundland Power and Bell Aliant (also on this list). All told, M5 and Bristol made 30 donations to the Liberals ($285,917) and 31 donations to the PCs ($69,100).

3. Kruger: $332,300

The parent company of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper — which produces newsprint — was given a $15.4 million bailout from the PC government in 2010. In 2014, the PCs gave the mill a $110-million loan. And last May, the current Liberal government promised to safeguard the mill’s unfunded pension liability in the event of bankruptcy. The company has given money to political parties on 86 occasions — $166,375 to the Tories, $159,925 to the Liberals, plus $6,000 to six individual candidates.

4. Bell Aliant: $266,520

This wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Canada made 85 donations: $148,450 to the PCs, $114,177 to the Liberals and $3,900 to the NDP.

5. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce: $241,180

The bank split its donations between the Liberals and PCs: 41 contributions totalling $135,600 went to the PCs, 45 donations totalling $105,580 went to the Liberals.

6. Pennecon: $235,720

This St. John’s company — which has 1,500 employees working in real estate, oil and gas, and heavy civil engineering — has donated 75 times to provincial parties. Most of that went to the PCs ($155,650) and the Liberals ($72,270), with smaller gifts to the NDP ($5,300) and six individual candidates ($2,500). All above-board, unlike Pennecon’s $5,500 donation to Conservative MP Peter Penashue — which was funnelled through six employees. Those donations were among 28 illegal contributions to Penashue’s 2011 campaign. He resigned in 2013.

7. United Steelworkers of America: $195,835

All 21 of the union’s donations went to the NDP. The party has never won a provincial election. But in 2015, when Steelworkers donated $55,500, the NDP won two seats. In 2011, when Steelworkers donated $30,000, the NDP won five seats. All the donations came from locations in the Greater Toronto Area.

8. Provincial Airlines: $184,622.75

The regional airline has made 56 donations to provincial parties: $97,400 to the PCs, $87,022.75 to the Liberals and $200 to two individual candidates. Like Pennecon, the airline admitted to illegal contributions of $18,710 to the 2011 campaign of MP Peter Penashue. The CBC reported that the company had written off travel for the politician, who “couldn’t afford the flights he took around the large, sparsely populated riding.”

9. Newfoundland Federation of Labour: $162,350

This union federation, as well as affiliated groups in Ontario, British Columbia and at the national level, have made 30 donations to Newfoundland and Labrador’s NDP. A majority of those donations ($111,000) were made in 2015 — including a $51,500 gift, the second-largest donation recorded in the database, directly from the NewfoundlandFederation of Labour. The union represents about 65,000 workers in the province.

10. Rogers: $158,850

The PCs got the lion’s share of the communication behemoth’s 39 donations ($125,700), with the remainder going to the Liberals ($33,150).

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