Mr. Harper, the Subsidy to Political Parties is a Voice for Canadians – Please Reconsider Your Cut
Update 5:45 PM EST. Conservatives drop party-funding cuts from key motion. CBC.
Dear Mr. Harper, Mr. Flaherty, and Mr. Preston,
I am deeply concerned about your proposed cut of the subsidy to Canadian federal political parties.
While I understand this cut affects all parties, it is particularly harmful to fledgling political parties, such as the Green Party which received 6.8% of the popular vote in this year’s election. Canadians are speaking through the popular vote, but this vote is not adequately represented in the current first-past-the-post electoral system. As you know, the subsidy gives $1.95 for each vote to a political party. It is a minimal resource, allowing new parties some voice in representing the Canadians who voted for them. It is one important way to balance the electoral system with proportional representation.
The cut to the subsidy is being proposed as a measure to help in the current economic crisis. In the election campaign, the Green Party put forward some innovative economic ideas. While you may not agree with all of the ideas, in this time of economic crisis it is vital to hear and debate them. This diversity is essential to solving our economic problems.
The subsidy is an investment in democracy, and that is important in good and bad fiscal times. Please reconsider your cut. Mr. Preston, as my Member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London, I trust you will follow up with this concern with Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty.
Respectfully,
John Miedema
Letter delivered by email with my contact information. Recipients notified that the letter was reposted here and at the Green Party website, http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/8608.
[...] Letter delivered by email with my contact information. Recipients notified that the letter was reposted here and at my personal blog, http://johnmiedema.ca [...]
I personally deplore the fact that the Green Party will receive 1.8 million tax payer dollars.I applaud Stephen Harper for having the guts to end a subsidy which was started in 2004 by Chretien, a subsidy which was $1.75 a vote and is now $1.95 a vote. 20 cent raise in 4 years??
Please get your funding the old fashioned way. Ask your supporters for money, not the Canadian public.
I was sort of hoping Harper wouldn’t blink and we’d get a coalition government that represented the majority of Canadians. Oh well. Better luck next time.
The thought occurred to me too, Sylvia, but the subsidy is not the core of the challenge, so we may still see something in a week. It also occurred to me that Harper may have planned to pull the cut all along, just to look cooperative. He seems surprised though, don’t you think?
[...] parties based on the vote. Political outsiders will never get the problem there, but the subsidy is one small way of getting proportional representation in Canada. Next, Harper want to veto the right to strike for public service workers. Ugh. But [...]
You’re right, it’s not over yet! Yes, I think Harper is sweating. I can’t see him going down without trying every trick in the book, though.
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