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Campaign Finance Bill in Canadian Parliament

01:06 / 30.01.03

From The Toronto Star

"Prime Minister Jean Chrétien bucked opposition from many within his own party and introduced a tough bill today that sets stiff limits on what companies and others can donate to political parties.

The proposed legislation - the most sweeping revision of federal electoral law in 30 years - would ban donations by corporations, unions or associations to parties at the national level, but permit up to $1,000 a year in total to riding associations.

Individuals could contribute up to $10,000 a year to parties or candidates.

The bill would replace the lost income from private donations with a more generous system of public funding, giving serious parties a subsidy of about $1.50 for each vote they receive."

Sounds good, right? I think so at least. What I can't figure out is the huge 'outcry' in the papers....which is largely incoherent in coming up with plausable reasons outside of the cost. It'll cost the country $40million more a year in expenses, but it seems worth it?

01:43 / 30.01.03

sounds great, actually... it's just that I hear the voice of a friend in my head, (insert harpy voice here) "he's only doing this as a legacy, because he's all but gone from office". True, but like Kyoto,it doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. actually, most of his "legacy proposals" seem a damn sight better than anything he did before. Which I find pretty telling in regards to the level of autonomy and practical decision-making power our "most powerful officials" really have. That's another thread entirely.

As to the outcry and the media fallout, well, it's pretty ludicrous. The focus of discussion seems to be the cost to our elites; it's disturbing that the idea that corporate money has strings attached has to be introduced and explained in soft, easily digestible terms. "But who will pay for our democracy??" We've got this little thing called taxes, see, and... well. Isn't $40mil around what the Ontario gov't pissed away on corporate fellatio the past year alone?

anyway, mad props to Jean. balls of solid gold, unlike his successor (whose near-certain victory is yet another topic of contention with me. some other time).

22:38 / 30.01.03

About the media outcry - look at the players. Torstar (which owns the Toronto Star and Harlequin Enterprises Limited - big-ass publisher), Quebecor (owns Quebecor Media, and thus Sun Media, Quebecor World, the world’s largest commercial printer), Hollinger Inc./ Southam Inc. (National Post and what looks like half of the free world's wealth), etc, etc, etc. The media gets pissy because their parent corporations are exactly the types that want unlimited corporate sponsorship for political parties. I hate to admit it, but having worked for a massive company, you do tend to take their causes on as your own, whether its bullshit or not - paycheques can be great brainwashing tools. And what industry relies on politics more than the media? Of course their editorials on the subject of donation limits are scathing.
That said, I'd rather have a few of my tax dollars go towards funding these parties equally, rather than being bombarded with a series of well-produced Tory ads and a scattering of grainy Liberal ads. Just because some of us are smart enough to see the real issues behind the pretty sets and flattering lighting doesn't mean we all are.

04:00 / 31.01.03

The one neat clause is that if a party gets 5% of the votes in the ridings it runs in, it gets the $1.50 per vote funding. That seems pretty low to me, which may mean some funding for the Greens and the Natural Law!

...or maybe the Rhino party will make a comeback. I miss them.