Taking Away Their Toonie

In their June 6 budget, the Tories will do away with the vote subsidy. And this time, the opposition can't do anything about it.

The Conservative government is set to do what it couldn't as a minority in 2008: axe the $2-and-change per-vote subsidy. Tim Powers, Tory talking head nonpareil, argues in The Globe and Mail that cutting off parties from the taxpayer's dime is good for democracy because it will force them to better engage the public. “If what you are selling is worth buying, the money will come,” says Powers. “Without guaranteed cash from the state, innovation for survival purposes will force a clear-headed resolve to matter in the political marketplace.” Powers' logic only works, though, when one assumes that each voter has equal means to donate to a party; clearly, that's not the case.

The Toronto Star's editorialists question if killing the subsidy, which costs about $27 million a year, ought to be a priority when it's a relatively small drop in the ocean of government spending. Instead, they propose Harper simply cut the subsidy in half, which “would provide parties with sufficient cash to function between elections, yet serve as an incentive to connect with more grassroots supporters to raise more funds.” That, however, overlooks the Tory plan to wean the parties off it – steadily decreasing the amount they're subsidized each year for four years, so that may accomplish just what the Star is urging the government to do.

Justifying the death as a cost-saving measure doesn't pass the Brandon Sun's muster, as it highlights a few other schemes by which parties get paid that will go untouched. Chief among them are tax breaks for political donations, which cost taxpayers $20 million a year. “Conservatives have widely benefitted from the current structure of electoral subsidies, as they generally attract older – and richer – voters who have no problem cutting a donation cheque,” the paper writes. And those voters are even more inclined to do so if it counts as a write-off on their taxes. Likewise, if they're looking for token cuts aimed at political parties, the Tories could just as well trim the reimbursements parties receive for election spending or reduce MPs' expense accounts. But seeing as those measures would affect all parties more or less equally, they'll likely stay safe while continuing to drain the country's coffers.