It's another Harper double-dare, coming to an opposition party of your choice.
Whenever the election does come, Harper has one plan in mind for afterward: the elimination of public funding to political parties. A punishing blow to his opponents. Sure, the idea caused a showdown last autumn, [a Harper] adviser said. "But in retrospect, we should have stuck to our guns. It was strategically smart. It's still strategically smart. We're going to run again on it. And we're going to do it, if we win the next election. It's coming."
Yes, indeed. No surprise here.
As noted previously, for low-income voters who are unable to donate to their party of choice, this would be one more blow. For members of the electorate whose only remaining reason to visit the polls has been that $1.75 contribution to their party, it's a further disincentive to vote. For certain opposition parties, removing the subsidy could well see their demise; hence, it would likely contribute to further erosion of our democracy.
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6 comments:
But that last line is likely the point: it's not in the Cons' interest for there to be more than two options since the NDP and Bloc are serving as a buffer against their chances of turning Lib weakness into a majority for themselves. And unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if the Libs (after reading a few too many of their own press releases about catching up in terms of fund-raising) go along with the move on the theory that it'll ease their own path to a majority.
Exactly.
There are problems with the way the subsidy system works. In my view, there shouldn't be a threshold below which a party doesn't get the subsidy, given that all votes should be treated equally. But then they're not treated equally now, in terms of proportional representation.
So what else it new?
"In my view, there shouldn't be a threshold below which a party doesn't get the subsidy..."
So if a Nazi Party or the Rhino Party gets 1000 votes, you think taxpayers should encourage/fund them?
That's just stupid.
My, what an insightful comment!
No, paying the $1.75 per vote subsidy for each vote gained is not stupid. It's fair.
I'd remove the tax credit status of all political donations as well. Let's see if the PM has the courage to eliminate this perk as well!
Ken, that sounds reasonable to me.
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