Fattening Incumbents' War-chests

[Neal.F.]

In addition to "first past the post" voting , election financing in Canada needs a complete overhaul. Why should we be paying for Liberal, PC , CA, Bloc and NDP election campaigns?

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Vol 10 No 39

FATTENING INCUMBENTS' WAR-CHESTS

by CHP National leader Ron Gray

Taxpayers now have the dubious "privilege" of paying the lion's share of election expenses for the party Allan Fotheringham dubbed "The Natural Governing Party" — the Federal Liberals.

The changes zipped through the House and Senate with the concurrence of all the other parties in Parliament; they, too, will get their war-chests filled by the taxpayers. Not as much as the Liberals, but “the dogs eat the crumbs from their master’s table.”

In addition, the Liberal Party gets almost two hours of the 390 minutes allocated for election advertising broadcasts — more than three times as much as any other party.

Now, doesn't that make you feel all warm and happy?

For several years now, the Christian Heritage Party has called for changes in the way the Elections Act supports political parties.

"Don't set the rules according to how they will serve the parties," we've said. "The criterion should be: do the rules serve the need — indeed the right — of voters to have adequate information about all he options available?"

Whenever I've asked that question, representatives of the five parties now in the House of Commons stare at me with faces as impassive as the Easter Island monoliths. The idea is so bizarre, in their eyes, that it cannot be comprehended. I might as well be speaking Swahili.

But surely that should be the fundamental rule for everything about how elections are run: does it serve the voters?

Furthermore, when the people we elect to make the laws use that power to pass laws which compel taxpayers to pay the election expenses of the sitting MPs and their parties, I believe that only one word describes such behavior: "CORRUPT". It's an overt abuse of legislative power!

Even many Liberal MPs at first resisted the changes of Bill C-24. It puts a cap on donations from corporations — and most Liberals were lavishly-funded by corporate donations. But when they saw that the corporate largesse they lost would be more than replaced by the taxpayers, they obediently did the Prime Minister's bidding.

What's more, this year they'll not only get a rebate of 50% of their expenses in the last election (under the old rules), they'll also get $1.75 for every vote they won in the last election (the new rules). The Elections Act says that $1.75 is to be paid in quarterly allotments, but this year they'll get the whole annual allowance all at once — just in time for the next election!

Any grant of taxpayers' money based on the results of the previous election is merely a formula for perpetuating the status quo. But how else would you expect Liberals to use taxpayers' money? Citizens, in the Liberal world-view, serve two purposes: keeping Liberals in power, and paying for all their boondoggles (remember HRDC, gun registry, anthrax pills and all the other billion-dollar blunders?).

Oh yes: Canadian "democracy" can be wonderful — if you’re a Liberal!