The Yukon Party government has put a hold on the NDP’s proposal to ban corporate, union and Outside donations to political parties.

Members of the legislative assembly unanimously agreed Wednesday to refer the NDP’s bill to the all-party Members’ Services Board for further discussion.

The NDP bill, called the Fairness in Political Contributions Act, proposes to change the Yukon Elections Act so that only individual Yukon residents may donate to political parties. It also sets a contribution cap of $1,500.

“By refusing to tell Yukoners whether or not he thinks corporations, unions and Outside donors should continue to be able to fund Yukon political parties, Premier Darrell Pasloski has demonstrated that he and the Yukon Party do not believe that they should be accountable to Yukon citizens,” NDP leader Liz Hanson said in a press release following the government’s decision.

NDP MLA Lois Moorcroft said on the floor of the House – out in the open – is where this bill should be debated, not behind the closed doors in a Members’ Services Board meeting.

“This is a matter of public interest and a matter that should be debated publicly,” she said Wednesday.

The board deals with financial and administrative policy matters, and Yukon Party members make up the majority.

The board has been responsible for making changes to the elections process in the past.

In December 2015, it amended the Elections Act to make it easier for voters to register, and for absentee voters to cast their ballots, among other changes.

Hanson ultimately agreed to shift the bill to the board, a proposal that came from Yukon Party MLA Brad Cathers.

She called on the committee to convene “immediately so that we can continue this debate.”

There are currently no restrictions on political contributions in the Yukon.

Any union, corporation, and individual residing anywhere in the world can donate as much as desired to Yukon political parties.

Cathers, who sits on the board, was quick to point out that the NDP hosted a fundraising event in Edmonton last month.

“It seems that the NDP is not acting in good faith,” he told the legislature Wednesday.

“It does seem rather an interesting change of heart for them to propose a ban on Outside donations less than two weeks after holding a fundraiser in Edmonton.”

The event was in celebration of Hanson’s birthday and yes, money was collected, NDP spokesperson Mike Fancie told the Star.

“We’ve been very open about the fact that we passed the hat around at this event; we don’t have anything to hide,” he said.

“What we did was completely in line with election financing laws at the time.”

The NDP isn’t alone in hosting Outside fundraising events.

In 2014, for example, the Yukon Party held a $300-a-head boat cruise and dinner in Vancouver.

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver said he too would welcome changes to political contribution rules, but took issue with barring non-Yukoners from donating.

“We all have friends and family from outside the boundaries of this territory,” he said Wednesday.

“What’s wrong with a $100 donation or even a $1,500 donation coming from someone’s brother, from someone’s aunt or a friend from Saskatchewan or from British Columbia or wherever?”

According to an Elections Yukon report on 2011 campaign contributions, all of Silver’s Outside donations exceeding $250 came from Toronto-based banks and a Vancouver mining company.

Scotiabank, RBC and TD banks donated a total of $3,000 to the Yukon Liberals in 2011, and Western Copper contributed $3,300.

Silver said that if the government truly wanted to take big money out of politics, it would have done so already.

“We know that the Yukon Party is in power right now. If they wanted to limit these contributions, they would have. They haven’t,” he said.

Silver agreed with the NDP that “the concerns about money buying influence is real here and across the territory.”

In the last election, all three parties received single donations of more than $1,500, contributions from outside the territory and from companies.

The Yukon Party, however, had many more corporate donors than any other party in 2011.

“Individuals vote; corporations do not vote, unions do not vote,” Hanson told the House on Wednesday.

“The intent of this bill is to strengthen the voice of ordinary Yukoners by restricting the presence of big money in Yukon politics.”

It is possible for the Fairness in Political Contributions Act to become law before the upcoming election, but Fancie said it’s highly unlikely.

If the Yukon Party wanted the changes, they could have passed the bill on the floor yesterday, instead of referring it to the Members’ Services Board for further debate, he said.

“The government now has the opportunity to defeat the motion without being accountable for it.”

“When it comes to strengthening the voices of ordinary Yukoners, the Yukon NDP caucus is working hard to get things done,” Hanson added in her post-debate statement.

“The Yukon Party government’s unacceptable refusal to take a public position on fairer rules for political donations speaks for itself. We remain committed to proposing concrete ways to strengthen our democracy.”

“We see this for what it is,” said Community Services Minister Currie Dixon, a member of the board.

“The Yukon NDP are grandstanding in an election year. If they had a legitimate interest in making changes to campaign financing, they would have raised this when we conducted the all-party review of the act.

“It also rings hollow that they would table a bill banning Outside donations, mere days after holding a fundraiser in Edmonton.”