Modeling Journey

Flanagan, the brains behind Stephen Harper's transformation from dogmatic economist into an apparently serious contender for prime minister with a majority government, is at it again.

Now that Tory fortunes in Quebec are at an all-time low, Flanagan is stirring the pot, recommending that the Harper Tories set out once again to cripple the Bloc (and, of course, the Liberals) by cutting the federal subsidy to political parties:

"The Conservative government nearly blew itself out of the water last November when it tried to cut off $27-million a year in federal allowances to political parties. Although polls showed the idea was popular with the public, the commentariat generally panned it as a low blow against competing parties, because they are more dependent on the subsidies than the Conservatives are. The opposition parties formed their famous coalition and threatened to vote non-confidence against the Conservatives, who quickly retracted the proposal. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, however, has vowed to bring it back as part of his campaign platform in the next election… Also, as Julie Andrews said (playing Maria von Trapp), “When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” If parties are to lose their allowances, they should get opportunities to raise more revenue for themselves. Here are three non-mutually-exclusive suggestions that could be implemented alone or in combination."

Of course, Flanagan is right when he says:

"What is needed are incentives for parties to keep in contact with their supporters – to ask for money, to be sure, but also to keep people informed."

The Cat agrees with Flanagan on the last point, but disagrees with Flanagan's three strawman proposals.

Instead of cutting federal subsidies to political parties, we should ask the Liberal Party, the NDP and the Bloc to propose the following amendment to current legislation, with the objective of providing incentives to parties to keep in contact with their supporters, and to substantially increase the number of Canadians who actively support our political parties, and make donations to parties of their choice:

Firstly, increase the current federal subsidy from the $1.96 per vote obtained, to a higher figure (say, $2.50).

Secondly, add an incentive payment to any party which in any province increases the number of its individual donors by certain proportions, with subsidy per vote increasing as the increase in donors increases. For example, if a party in any given year increases its total donor base by more than 20%, then that party will receive an additional subsidy (say, another $1.00 on all votes it receives). If the increase in any given year over the previous year is over 50%, the increased subsidy should be higher (say, $2 for every vote cast for that party).

Thirdly, add an incentive payment to any party which in any province increases the number of candidates running for election as MP who are female. For example: a 20% increase in the number of women running in an election would gain additional subsidies of say $1.00 for all votes cast for that party in the election. If the number of female candidates exceeded 50% more than in the previous election, add an extra subsidy of $2.00 per vote cast.

Fourthly, provide an additional subsidy for any party which increases its votes in all provinces in the country. This would reward national parties such as the Green Party), LPC, Tories and NDP, but the Bloc, being by choice purely a one-province party, would not be able to earn this extra subsidy.

The above steps would substantially change the political behavior of our parties, and result in major increases in the number of individual donors and the number of women chosen to run for our parties.

At the same time, the above proposals would not be an underhanded and devious way of trying to cut off funding for the Bloc simply because the Tory party is losing support in Quebec.

The total amounts paid to our parties would be insignificant compared to the horrendous deficits now facing the country, and the monies lost to Canadian taxpayers due to Tory incompetence and mismanagement. But the chances of getting a higher percentage of Canadians actually to vote would be much higher; and our country would benefit from this democratic boost.