$ 46 Million to fund the federal parties with public money

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Christopher Nardi

Tuesday, 30 January 2018 18:01

UPDATE
Tuesday, 30 January 2018 18:01

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OTTAWA | The return of funding of political parties in the blow of $ 1.75 per vote would cost up to$ 46 Million per year to taxpayers, according to a new study published Tuesday.

Should we return to a system of financing of political parties that reduces the limits of contribution of individuals and companies, and replace those contributions with public funds ?

This is what is proposed by the Bloc quebecois mp Michel Boudrias in a bill of parliamentary initiative which is made at the stage of second reading. The member wants to return to the system set up by the Chrétien government in 2004 and eliminated by Stephen Harper in 2015.

According to him, the purpose is to “restore the confidence of Canadians and Quebecers in our electoral system” significantly reducing the limit of campaign donations. It proposes to spend $ 5000 per year to 2600 $, and the federal government to compensate the funds lost as a recurrent annual funding of $ 1.75 per vote received.

This change will clearly benefit the parties, including the vast majority of contributions are already below 2600 $, analysis by the parliamentary budget officer (DPB) in his study.

“The recovery of allowances […] allows you to increase the funding of registered political parties […] all In all, the political contributions of registered parties would experience a net increase of approximately $ 43.1 million in 2018, a sum which would rise to $ 43.9 million in 2021 “, we read.

The Block would also be one of the first parties to take advantage of it. According to a calculation by the Newspaper, the party has banked$ 1.4 Million per year since the election in 2015. However, in 2016, the political formation has received only 656 000 $, according to its financial statements.

“It is sure that it would help small parties, but major parties come out winners, too, responded Mr. Boudrias. It allows to guarantee a minimum income for the small parties. There is no member of parliament who likes to spend his time running after the gifts. “

Liberals not interested

On the side of the liberal government, we said no thanks to the proposal of Mr. Boudrias.

“The report by the PBO says that [the change] would be a significant investment, so for the moment I think we are pretty comfortable with the system of financing of political parties today. This is not something we are going to [consider], ” said yesterday Karina Gould, minister of democratic Institutions.