Senate seats for Tory bagmen an "unfair subsidy"

The Globe and Mail:

Jack Layton’s New Democrats are accusing the Conservatives and Liberals of having an unfair advantage because their party bagmen and political operatives sit in the Senate – and draw their salaries from Canadian taxpayers.

The tough talk comes with Prime Minister Stephen Harper again stirring the political pot by vowing to campaign in the next election on abolishing the per-vote public subsidy paid to political parties.

Go ahead, the NDP says. But first let’s have a conversation on whether senators-cum-bagmen also constitute a political subsidy.

NDP campaign chief Brad Lavigne, who was showing off the party’s election headquarters Monday, noted that Senate appointments give the other parties “taxpayer-sponsored, full-time fundraisers, full-time campaign directors.”

His salary is paid for by party membership fees; his rivals, however, earn taxpayer dollars. “That’s an unfair subsidy,” Mr. Lavigne said. “I’d like to take that up with people and see how they feel about that.”

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