Viewpoint: Politics and money: a sordid history

By Charles Smith
The relationship between political parties, political power, and big money has a long, sordid history in Canada.
In many ways, the relationship between big money and political power is entrenched in the country’s DNA; confederation itself was premised on major public investment in the subsidizing and building of private railroads across the country. As E.A. Heaman demonstrates in her magnificent book, A Short History of the State in Canada, the interconnections between sta