From the excesses in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, to the brazen cash-for-access events held by the federal Liberals under Justin Trudeau, there has been no shortage of headlines about the dark side of political-party fundraising, and the need for reform.
Ontario, Alberta and B.C. have all now banned corporate and union donations, something Ottawa did years ago. The Trudeau government, meanwhile, has tabled a bill to force parties to be more transparent about fundraisers involving ministers and party leaders, in an effort to get those events out of the plush living rooms of wealthy donors.
There is still a long way to go, though, because donation limits remain too high in most provinces and federally. Now a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office has shown a way forward, at least at the federal level.
According to the PBO, it would cost about $44-million per year to return to the system in which federal parties get public subsidies to cover their costs, reducing their need to raise money from wealthy donors.
The number is contained in a PBO analysis of a Bloc Québécois private member's bill that would restore the roughly $2-per-vote regime that existed from 2004-15, while lowering the maximum federal donation limits.
The government has rejected the idea on the grounds that it would require "a significant investment," according to Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould.
But here's the catch: Looking back through the last decade of federal public accounts, tax deductions for political party donations have cost the government an average of $40-million a year.
So, were Ottawa to lower its donation limit from the current $1,575 per party to something like Quebec's $100 maximum – thereby significantly lowering tax deductions – and reinstate the per-vote subsidy, the net cost to the public purse would be considerably less than $44-million.
It's not a zero-sum idea, financially. But nor is it the "significant investment" the government makes it out to be.
More to the point, big-money donations erode the public's confidence in politics. Ottawa should redo its math, and seriously consider the benefits of subsidies.