First he routed Liberals – and now Harper hopes to bankrupt them
Stephen Harper is expected to move quickly to kill the per-vote taxpayer subsidies to political parties in an effort to kill the Liberal Party of Canada, according to a former colleague of the Prime Minister.
“Ever since his days at the [National Citizens Coalition], Stephen talked about eliminating the Liberals as a political force in Canada,” former NCC executive Gerry Nicholls said. “This was both for personal and tactical reasons. He didn’t like Liberals – he always viewed them as biased against Alberta.”
Mr. Flaherty said the extra savings to erase deficit in 2014-15 won't be booked until 2012 budget. This year’s plan, he said, will include a provision for Quebec HST compensation and phasing out of per-vote subsidies “as set out in the platform” Prime Minister Stephen Harper
campaigned on killing the taxpayer stipend for political parties, but said he would only attempt the move if he won a majority government.
The Conservative platform noted that the $2-per-vote annual subsidy for political parties is currently a $27.4-million expense for the federal government. The platform promised to phase this out gradually over four years.
In addition, Mr. Nicholls told The Globe
the Prime Minister,who had worked at the NCC between his stints in the House of Commons,
also believed a two-party system “where it was the socialist NDP vs. free market Conservative, would be an advantage for the Tories.”
It appears as if his dreams are about to come true. The Liberals are down to just 34 seats and the infighting has begun; the Bloc Québécois is pretty much gone; and the NDP is the Official Opposition.
The Prime Minister has made no secret of his plans to get rid of the $2 per vote subsidy. During the campaign, he
blamed frequency of elections on the taxpayer subsidy, which allows political parties to get “enormous cheques” whether “they raise any money or not.”
“The war chests are always full for another campaign,” he said on the hustings. “You lose one; immediately in come the cheques and you are ready for another one even if you didn’t raise a dime.”
Indeed, the separatist Bloc, although it never ran a national campaign, received more than $2.8-million every year after the 2008 election. Even though it won only four seats in the May 2 campaign, it garnered nearly 900,000 votes –and so will receive $1.8-million in subsidies.
Mr. Nicholls, who has written multiple articles on the subject, agrees with the Prime Minister about eliminating the subsidy as long as it for the right reasons. The taxpayer-funded top up, he said, “is a waste of tax dollars and wrong on principle – Canadians should not be forced to subsidize political parties.”
However Mr. Nicholls would prefer if the government also scrapped the contribution limit. Since the subsidy was introduced in 2004, there have been limits on how much individual Canadians can donate. The cap currently sits at $1,200 per person, per year.
“If he scrapped the contribution limit along with the subsidy, the Liberals and other opposition parties would at least have a fighting chance. They could make up for the lost subsidy through aggressive fundraising,” he said.
More than that,
Mr. Nicholls believes that keeping the contribution limit will make it “nearly impossible” for new parties to form.
“That’s bad for democracy,” he said. “It could also open the door for some future government to impose contribution limits on advocacy organizations, like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.”
Still, his concern “centres on the PM’s motivation”, he said. “I fear he isn’t approaching the question based on what’s right or what’s fair or in the name of conservative principle.”
Per-vote subsidy on chopping block in Flaherty’s June 6 budget - The Globe and Mail
This is getting really scary. If the only choice Canadians have is between Conservatives or NDP, I'm worried our democracy will become almost as irrelevant as U.S. politics.
We should not be supporting a two party system.
