Goodbye publicly financed elections: big private $

The Huffington Post:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plan to kill public subsidies of federal political parties will hurt his own party’s pocketbook, but it’s the opposition parties who will feel serious pain – at least until they step up their fundraising game at the riding level.

In today's budget, the federal government is expected to propose legislation that would scrap a provision of the Canada Election Act giving $2 per vote in annual subsidies to parties elected to Parliament.

If the subsidy was cut outright, the Conservative Party would miss out on more than $11-million a year for the next four years – more than any other party by virtue of its majority win in the May 2 election.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May sees it differently. Her party will net $1.15-million based on 576,221 votes, though she was the only candidate to win a seat (Saanich-Gulf Islands).

May said Tory plans to kill the subsidy are part of a larger agenda to bring back corporate and union donations, a channel shut down when the subsidy was first introduced in 2004 by the governing Liberals. They also set a $1,000 limit (now $1,100) for individual contributions to parties.

At the time, the subsidy was a compromise to create more transparent financing and to ensure big business and big labour did not unfairly influence federal politics, May said.

She said she’s concerned that once the subsidy is scrapped, there will be a constitutional challenge to the law that blocks large organizations from donating, on the grounds it violates freedom of expression.

“Mr. Harper doesn’t have to pass legislation to open it up again for businesses to fund the party because someone will go to court,” she said. “And that will bring U.S.-style lobbying and fundraising here. Do we really want that?”

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