The Yukon Party is questioning the timing of an NDP bill that proposes to bar corporations, unions and non-Yukoners from making political donations.

NDP Leader Liz Hanson called for an end to “big money in politics” on Tuesday.

She announced her party will table the bill, called the Fairness in Political Contributions Act, before the legislative assembly rises May 26.

The bill proposes to amend the territorial Elections Act so that only individual Yukon residents can donate to political parties, and only up to $1,500.

“This bill gives us the chance to strengthen the voices of ordinary Yukoners in our political process by reforming our political donations rules,”said Hanson.

“We will call this bill for debate this session, and we hope that we can count on support from the Yukon Party and the Yukon Liberal leader in passing this important democratic reform bill.

“When this legislation is passed – and it will be passed, either now with their support or when we table it as a government – we hope that it will strengthen our democracy and encourage ordinary Yukoners to play a bigger part in our political process.”

But all this has the Yukon Party asking, why now?

“There have been multiple opportunities for the NDP to bring forward this type of proposal over the past two years, including when the Elections Act was amended four months ago,” Government House Leader Darius Elias said in a Yukon Party statement about the bill released Tuesday.

“That the NDP has waited until an election year to bring this proposal forward is telling.”

The government made changes to Yukon’s Elections Act back in December through Bill 91. It included amendments to simplify voter registration and allow absentee voters more time to cast their ballots, among others.

The NDP had the opportunity to table its political donations bill then, but did not, Elias told the House on Tuesday.

He pointed to six separate occasions during Bill 91’s development and debate where the New Democrats could have could have proposed changes to campaign fundraising rules.

Bill 91 came after a review of the Elections Act by the chief electoral officer, and her recommendations for changes to the elections process.

An all-party committee gathered in December 2014 to discuss the recommendations before the bill was tabled.

As the name suggests, the committee included representatives of the Yukon Party, Hanson and Liberal Leader Sandy Silver, who together agreed on a set of changes to the Elections Act.

“We took the recommendations of the electoral officer, we went through them one by one, we reviewed them, we sought consensus and we ensured that everyone was on the same page and that everyone supported what we were doing,” Currie Dixon, one of the Yukon Party representatives on the all-party committee, said Tuesday.

“That was the approach we took when we amended the Elections Act (the last time).”

In October 2015, before Bill 91 was tabled in the legislature, Hanson said she was pleased all three parties were able to work together to reform the territory’s election laws.

Dixon called the NDP fundraising bill a “political stunt,” pulled as Yukoners prepare to head to the polls later this year.

The NDP’s bill falls in line with political fundraising policies in other jurisdictions.

Corporate and union donations to election campaigns are not allowed at the federal level, or in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Ontario as of 2017.

Ontario recently brought down its contribution limit from $9,975 to $1,525. The new cap is just $25 more than what the NDP is proposing.

“Right now, as you know, there are no limits on how much or who can make political donations in Yukon,” Hanson told media at a briefing Tuesday morning.

“Not only do these Outside corporate and union contributions distort the democratic process, they also create the perception that government decisions can be influenced through unofficial channels.”

Hanson said the lion’s share of donations to the NDP come from individual donors, whereas that is the opposite is the case for the Yukon Party.

All three parties received donations from outside the territory, from companies and contributions in excess of $1,500. Under Hanson’s proposed bill, such donations would not be accepted.

The NDP, historically the preferred party of unions, received a total of $37,500 from the Yukon Federation of Labour and the Canadian Auto Workers during the 2011 election campaign.

The largest contribution to the NDP – $3,700 – came from an individual.

The Yukon Party received 13 contributions of $5,000 or more in the 2011 election, all coming from companies.

That party’s largest donation, $10,000, came from Vancouver’s Predator Mining Group.

While in Vancouver to attend major annual mining conferences in recent years, Yukon Party cabinet ministers have taken part in party-sponsored dinner cruises out of that city’s habour. Paying guests have helped pad the party’s coffers.

The Yukon Party also received $16,357 in flights from Alkan Air Ltd.

The Liberals’ largest single donation was $7,629, and it came from an individual.

“At some point this year, the Yukon Party will announce a territorial election. And we want to strengthen the voices of ordinary Yukoners ahead of this important moment,” said Hanson.