January 2002
Your Turn
Re: Electoral reform
Dear Editor:
I was sorry that time forced chairman Gordon Gibson to curtail questions during the afternoon session of The Fraser Institute's excellent Reforming Politics conference in Vancouver Nov. 22. There was an important issue—one not on the agenda—I wanted to raise: election finance reform.
Most Canadians are still not aware that under a law passed in 1974 (and renewed in 2000), every sitting MP will start the next federal election campaign with a war-chest half-full—of taxpayers' money.
It seems to have escaped Canada's parliamentarians that it is fundamentally immoral for people who hold legislative power to use that power to vote taxpayers' money for the payment of their partisan election campaign expenses.
Furthermore, in Canada it is legal for tax-supported institutions like hospitals and universities to use some of that money to make donations to political parties. Even Mexico's infamous PRI didn't allow that!
Similarly, labour unions and corporations should not be allowed to make political contributions of their members' or shareholders' money to parties whose policies those members or shareholders may find repugnant.
As Thomas Jefferson said, it is tyrannical to compel the citizen to pay for the promulgation of ideas with which he (or she) does not agree.
If Parliament believes there must be public money invested in the electoral process, let's let the taxpayers control the use of their money: on the income tax form, add a box stating, "$10 of your taxes will be used to support the democratic electoral process. You may designate one party to receive your $10, or you may divide it equally between two parties. If no party is designated, your $10 will be used to help defray the non-partisan operating expenses of Elections Canada."
In this way, each taxpayer would contribute the same relatively small amount, but not a penny of any taxpayer's money would go to any party without that taxpayer's specific authorization.
As we look for electoral reform, let's also end the tyranny and corruption in electoral campaign financing!
—Ron Gray, National Leader,
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
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