TORONTO - Ontario wants to set limits to municipal election donations and move the election date forward as part of several hundred recommendations to improve transparency in its ministries.
Attorney General Chris Bentley is proposing limits of $5,000 per contributor in each jurisdiction, as well as elections on the fourth Monday of October starting next year.
The 600 items also include changes to jury screening stemming from a review by the Information Privacy Commissioner and changes to better manage the length and cost of public inquiries.
NDP critic Michael Prue says the changes mean the municipal vote would fall on Halloween once every seven elections, and adds there should have been some measures in the bill to help the poor.
He also questioned why there weren't any provisions to deal with abuses by ministry consultants or corporate tax giveaways.
Given just a few minutes to review hundreds of pages of documents, Prue says he was able to find a couple of good items and a "whole bunch" of bad ones -- but he still questions what else he might have missed.
Deputy Premier George Smitherman has said he's considering taking a run at Toronto's top job in the upcoming election, while Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Jim Watson is rumoured to be thinking about running for Ottawa mayor.
