Politics of Canada

Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth Realm (see Monarchy in Canada) with a federal system of parliamentary government, and strong democratic traditions. Many of the country's legislative practices derive from the unwritten practices of and precedents set by the United Kingdom's Westminster parliament; however, Canada has evolved variations. Party discipline in Canada is stronger than in the United Kingdom, and more of the votes are considered confidence votes, which tends to diminish the role of non-cabinet Members of Parliament (MPs), known as backbenchers. Backbenchers can, however, exert their influence by sitting in parliamentary committees, like the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defence Committee.

Changes to law regarding funding of federal parties and possible impact

These changes were made by the last Liberal government to deal with the issues of fair access to funding for parties running for seats in the federal parliament. Previously the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservative Party had benefited the most from the system as they received much more business funding than two other parties, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois. The New Democratic Party traditionally got less funding from business, but receives a larger percentage of union funding than the Liberal and PC parties. This led to the net result of the previous system favouring parties that were more likely to get business contributions. There was no fifth party that was receiving much of its money in this manner, and the Green Party of Canada functioned mainly through personal donations. The NDP also had to depend in a greater manner on personal contributions. It should be noted that personal donations to federal parties and campaigns benefit from tax credits, although the amount of tax relief depends on the amount given. Also only people paying taxes receive any benefit from this.

Related Topics:
New Democratic Party - Bloc Québécois - Green Party of Canada

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A good part of the reasoning behind the change in funding was that union or business funding should not be allowed to have as much impact on federal election funding as these are not contributions from citizens and are not evenly spread out between parties. They are still allowed to contribute to the election but only in a minor fashion. The new rules stated that a party had to receive 2% of the vote nationwide in order to receive the general federal funding for parties. Each vote garnered a certain dollar amount for a party (approximately $1.75) in future funding. Because this system had not been use before approximations were made based on previous elections. The NDP received more votes than expected (its national share of the vote went up) while the new Conservative Party of Canada received fewer votes than had been estimated and has been asked to refund the difference. The Liberal party also likely received fewer votes than expected. Figures are not yet known, but it is believed they too will need to refund money. It should be noted that the province of Quebec was the first province to implement a similar system of funding many years before the changes to funding of federal parties.

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Federal funds are disbursed quarterly to parties, beginning at the start of 2005. For the moment, this disbursement delay leaves the NDP and the Green Party in a better position to fight an election, since they rely more on individual contributors than federal funds. (The Green party now receives federal funds, since it for the first time received a sufficient share of the vote in the 2004 election.)

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