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Pallister says no to revamped per-vote subsidy
PC Leader Brian Pallister doesn't agree with taxpayer funding for political parties. (MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES) Photo Store
Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister's message for Bill Neville is: Don’t waste your time.
Pallister said today his PCs don’t want anything to do with the Selinger government’s efforts to make taxpayer subsidization of political parties more palatable.
The NDP recently enlisted Neville, a University of Manitoba political scientist, to come up with a more acceptable mechanism for supporting political parties over the next three months.
Four years ago, the NDP under Gary Doer created a taxpayer subsidy to help political parties deal with the financial hit from its earlier ban on corporate and union donations. Each registered party was allowed to apply annually for a government payment of $1.25 for each vote it received in the last general election, to a maximum of $250,000.
But the Tories turned up their noses and labelled the subsidy a "vote tax" and refused to apply for their share. The NDP, placed in an awkward political position, followed suit.
As a result, the NDP has passed up $1 million in taxpayer funding over the past four years while the Conservatives have refused roughly $800,000.
Pallister said Thursday any political party worth its salt should raise its funds from its supporters.
He called on the NDP and Neville to halt their plans for a revamped vote subsidy.
"A vote subsidy is simply a lazy levy that allows money to flow into political party coffers without politicians going out and engaging with voters and earning the support of Manitobans," he said. "Participation and financial contributions to a political party should be voluntary.
"We believe this proposal would further disengage Manitobans from the political process," he added in a statement. "Only a tired political party would support a proposal that would pick the pockets of hardworking Manitobans."
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