The case for a reduced vote subsidy

Duff Conacher suggests the vote subsidy needn’t be eliminated, merely reduced.

Cutting the subsidy in half (instead of eliminating it as Harper proposes) would give all parties a solid, democratically determined funding base, but still require them to reach out and regularly address the concerns of voters in order to attract their annual donations.

The subsidy should also be reduced even more (for example, cut by 75 per cent) for any party that operates only in one province or region, such as the Bloc Quebecois, because they have lower travel and operating costs than parties with riding associations and candidates across the country.

Meanwhile, Adam Radwanski finds various revelations in the current range of political donations from the public.