Media reports indicate the Harper government plans to axe the subsidy political parties currently enjoy.
If true, this would be great news.
Let's face it, this subsidy plan -- which cost taxpayers about $30 million -- is nothing but a welfare plan for politicians.
It's just plain wrong and undemocratic to force taxpayers to finance a political party. Let politicians raise their own money through voluntary contributions.
However, if the subsidy is scrapped and if politicians are forced to raise funds voluntarily, then the government must also do away with current finance contribution laws which severely limit what individuals can contribute to political parties.
These limits are nothing but a limit on free political speech and hamper the ability of political parties to raise funds.
It's time to make the process fair for everybody, politicians and taxpayers.
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4 comments:
Agree with your sentiments on this Gerry.
I have to wonder about the opposition parties screaming about this being an afront to democracy.
What bs - although that's what we've come to expect from the left - their hands in our pockets equals democracy.
Time for a reminder that it's not.
They could raise the limit on donations to, say, $2500. Maybe even $5000. But I do not want to see a return to the old days of corporations and rich folk with agendas greasing the wheels of politics.
They should leave the contribution limits in place though. This is yet another ingenius political move by Harper. The opposition is completely powerless to do anything but hissy fit about this and that only makes them look bad!
If it is a blanket subsidy or one tied to the percentage of vote or percentage of seats, I disagree, but if it is per vote, than I see nothing wrong here as essentially you are donating $1.95 to the party you voted for. Now an easier solution might be to do it on tax forms. Another possibility is have open registeration for parties like in the US where when you register to vote you can register to be a member of any party and since this requires a membership fee, this could cover many of their expenses. You could off course choose to register as an independent and have no money go to any party.
That being said I think Harper's handling of this is incredibly stupid. If he doesn't back down on this, the government will fall which either means another election or the opposition forming a coalition. So if you want Harper out of power like myself, this is good news, but for those who support him not good news. And for people like yourself, you may think Harper is not right wing enough, but you can bet on any other government whatever its form where the Tories are not in power being more left wing.
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