Rethinking the public and political spheres
REFORM OF POLITICAL PARTY FINANCING

Several problems:

The State, the Government of Canada and ideally, political parties, should at all times act according to the common good, without being beholden to private interests. This ideal of serving the common good can not be reached, however, without a democratic, widely-accepted and transparent system of political party financing.

The presence of powerful lobbies, particularly those of the banking and finance industries, represents a significant and undemocratic distortion of the political decision-making process. It is essential to reduce the political party's dependency on money.

Some solutions:

During a first mandate, adopt important reforms in political party financing.

The first reforming principle establishes public financing of political parties. We will:

Set up a fund of between $10 and $20 million per year, to be distributed to Canadian political parties in proportion to their percentage of the popular vote in the previous election. Access to this fund will be limited to political parties having received a minimum of 5% of the Canada-wide vote. Set up a fund of between $10 and $20 million per year, to be distributed to recognized riding associations in proportion to their percentage of the vote received in that riding in the previous election. Access to this fund will be limited to political parties having received a minimum of 5% of the vote in the riding. Current political party financing models, based on reimbursing expenses for candidates having received a certain percentage of the vote, will be abolished.

The second principle eliminates all but personal donations. We will:

Eliminate direct financial donations to political parties by any business or organization. Grant the right to contribute financially to political parties exclusively to citizens who are members of a political party. Limit financial donations to $3000 per individual to a riding association or federal party. Ensure complete transparency with respect to political party financing, including leadership contests, by making publicly available, lists of all donations over $100.