Guess who’s back?

John Gomery has busted out his broom and is getting ready for another crack at cleaning up politics. Only this time, the Liberal party and their donors can rest easy—the judge made famous for his inquiry into the sponsorship scandal has Montreal municipal politics on his mind. The freshly-77-year-old Gomery has taken a job presiding over Projet Montréal’s fundraising efforts for the upcoming mayoralty race. And Gomery’s already promising to bring big changes to the way his party’s candidates can collect their funds: every donation worth more than $100 will be listed on Projet Montréal’s website within 48 hours; donations ranging between $250 and $1,000 will prompt an investigation by the party into the donor to assess whether they’re trying to exert undue influence; donations suspected of having been made on behalf of companies will be rejected; and all donations over $25 will be documented (under the current system, a party can collect up to 20% of its funds from anonymous donors). Considering the spate of scandals that have tarnished the city’s reputation, a little bit of Gomery may be just what Montreal needs.

La Presse