Is it true that political parties now receive taxpayers money for each vote they earn in a federal election?
Yes, it’s true. Changes to the Canada Elections Act making this public policy came into effect on Jan. 1, 2004. The same package of changes limited individuals to donating $5,000 per calendar year to the registered political party of their choice, and banned contributions from companies, lobby groups, unions and associations. (An exception to the $5,000 limit was made for people who leave bequests to political parties in their wills.) Imposed in isolation, that kind of sudden severing of a major source of funding would have a huge impact on parties, of course. So there is now a system for paying publicly financed allowances to registered political parties under certain conditions. The system is meant to ensure that parties are beholden primarily to Canadian citizens for their annual funding, based on a relatively fair formula: their share of the popular vote in the previous general election. Now every registered party gets $1.75 every year for each vote they received in the previous ge
Related Questions
- Before a Primary Election, how do non-partisan vote-by-mail voters find out which of the political parties will permit them to vote for partisan candidates?
- Does the governments election budget include the money that political parties spend on their campaigns?
- Where do political parties get their money from?
