City mayoral candidates support donation disclosure, in theory

The two candidates running for mayor of Charlottetown support making municipal campaign donations public, but neither one wants to make the first move.

Former city councillor Philip Brown is running against current Mayor Clifford Lee in the municipal election Nov. 1.

'I'm not going to be a guinea pig...' Clifford Lee

Brown said if he's elected, he would push for reforms that would make campaign donations public.

When asked if he's prepared to release his donations list now, however, Brown issued a challenge.

"I would be the only one doing it," he explained. "I think that if all candidates -- mayoralty and councillor candidates -- would open their books up, I'd be more than willing to do it."

Provincial and federal candidates have to reveal any donations made to their campaigns, but donations remain secret at the municipal level on the Island.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants those municipal donations made public.

Mayor Lee said he favours full disclosure of campaign donations but isn't prepared to accept the challenge issued by Brown.

"We operate election campaigns based on rules," Lee said. "I'm not going to be a guinea pig, quite frankly, for the media toscrutinize and to criticize because you know and I know that's exactly what would happen."

Lee said if he's re-elected, he won't press for changes at the local council level; he will lobby for a nationwide set of guidelines through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities instead.