Jack Layton's New Democrats are accusing the Conservatives and Liberals of having an unfair advantage because their party bagmen and political operatives sit in the Senate – and draw their salaries from Canadian taxpayers.
The tough talk comes with Prime Minister Stephen Harper again stirring the political pot by vowing to campaign in the next election on abolishing the per-vote public subsidy paid to political parties.
Go ahead, the NDP says. But first let's have a conversation on whether senators-cum-bagmen also constitute a political subsidy.
NDP campaign chief Brad Lavigne, who was showing off the party's election headquarters Monday, noted that Senate appointments give the other parties "taxpayer-sponsored, full-time fundraisers, full-time campaign directors."
His salary is paid for by party membership fees; his rivals, however, earn taxpayer dollars. "That's an unfair subsidy," Mr. Lavigne said. "I'd like to take that up with people and see how they feel about that."
Indeed, it is a common practice for governing parties to reward their campaign strategists with Senate seats. Stephen Harper is no exception, despite his vow to see senators elected.
The Prime Minister appointed his fundraising guru, Irving Gerstein, to the Red Chamber. As well, he put his long-time campaign director, Doug Finley – whose wife, Diane, is the Human Resources Minister – into the chamber. Ditto for his communications aide, Carolyn Stewart-Olsen in the chamber.
The Liberals do the same. David Smith, who served as campaign director for Jean Chrétien and Stéphane Dion, is in the Senate; he was appointed in 2002 by Mr. Chretien.
Mr. Harper raised the issue of eliminating the per-vote subsides just after the 2008 election. He was then forced to prorogue Parliament to hold on to power after the opposition parties threatened to join forces and defeat the government on the issue.
Now he is trying again – this time taking it to the people in an election campaign. The Tories are master fundraisers and do not depend on the subsidy as much as other parties.
The subsidy amounts to about $2 a vote per year, based on the results of the last election. It was brought in under Mr. Chrétien when he banned donations from big corporations and unions.
For example, the NDP received $5-million from its subsidy in 2009. The Liberals were given $7.2-million and the Tories took in $10.4-million. The per-vote payments, however, are only part of the equation.
Mr. Lavigne says bring on the debate – although he would not go as far as demanding the senators reimburse their salaries during a campaign. Rather, he said, he "welcomes the conversation on what constitutes taxpayer support for political parties."
"It's not just the public financing, which we think has leveled the playing field. It's taken big money out of politics and it's led ... to less corruption," Mr. Lavigne said. "Most of the developed world has some form of it but I know that most of the developed world doesn't have a taxpayer-sponsored chamber like the Senate where full-time fundraisers and full-time campaign directors sit."