The Manitoba Green Party says it's happy about a new provincial election bill that will give the struggling party a $7,000 annual budget boost.
But Leader Andrew Basham says the Doer government's omnibus election bill ought to go one step further and guarantee all registered political parties at least $5,000 a year, not the $600 the bill offers.
"Six hundred dollars is not enough to do anything," said Basham, whose party is still run by volunteers and won about one per cent of the popular vote last year. "Having ineffective parties does not present a good picture of democracy in Manitoba, and does not encourage the formation of new parties to represent the many voters who are simply not voting."
The omnibus bill sets firm election dates, forces lobbyists to register with the province and raises limits on campaign spending and on party spending during non-election years. And, for the first time, it gives every party an annual grant worth $1.25 per vote up to $250,000, a deal similar to the one Ottawa recently started offering and that boosted the Green Party's fortunes nationally.
Until the next provincial election, the NDP will max out at $250,000 a year, the Tories at about $200,000 and the Liberals at $68,000. The Greens got about 5,500 votes, so they get about $6,900 a year.
Premier Gary Doer said he's open to boosting baseline funding to parties and any other amendments that might be proposed when the bill goes to committee sometime after the May long weekend.
The bill spawned one of the session's most lively debates in the legislature Tuesday, as the Tories accused the Doer government of subtly tipping the electoral scales in the NDP's favour. The Tories call the legislation "the elections fixing bill," and say the bill unfairly caps party advertising and gives a government-controlled committee veto power over MLA mailouts to constituents.
But Premier Gary Doer, in his most vigorous defense of the bill yet, said the Tories can spend all the money they want on partisan mail-out in non-election years, as long as the party -- not the taxpayer -- picks up the cost.
"They can spend a million dollars a day if they want to," said Doer. "Go ahead, spend your money!"
Doer did concede one point: The watchdog hired to monitor lobbying at the legislature should not be hired by cabinet. Instead, the new registrar -- a part-time job -- should be hired by an independent officer of the legislature such as the ombudsman or the conflict of interest commissioner and be responsible only to the House, not the cabinet.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
PREVIOUS
