By Mary Gazze
The Green Party is launching a more aggressive campaign thanks to all the extra money burning in the party’s pockets.
Because of changes to the election finance law that came into effect last January, the party got $1.76 for each vote it received during the previous federal election. Elections Canada distributes the money to the parties in quarterly installments. As a result, the Green Party has received more than $800,000 in funding this year.
Although this money may seem paltry in comparison to the $6.5 million the Liberals received under the new regulations, the Greens have never had this kind of money going into an election. In 2004, before the new regulations took effect, the party raised only $350,000 from private donations. So extra dollars from Elections Canada are a new resource for the previously cash-strapped party.
Melanie Ransom, CEO of the Ottawa Centre Green Party, wouldn’t divulge how much money the local organization had received so far, but says they have spent some of it on pamphlets distributed in May. Ransom says distribution of money at the national and local level is still at issue because the party has not decided how to distribute the money to the ridings.
“We’ve decided how it will be divided up, [but] the details of implementation haven’t been quite worked out,” she says.
Ransom says the party has been getting more calls from people asking for information, but says she’s not sure whether it was the pamphlets, or public outrage with the sponsorship scandal that triggered the calls.
“With the Gomery info coming out we’ve also had more people expressing interest in the party,” she says.
Green Party Executive Director, Jean Langlois, says new money will change the way the party campaigns.
Langlois says that before the 2004 election, the Green Party relied entirely on volunteer support. With the new money, the party was able to hire 10 paid employees.
The campaign finance law also put limits on donations. Businesses and unions can donate a maximum of $1,000 to a political party and individuals can donate up to $5,000.
Jon Pammett, a political science professor at Carleton University says these are the most significant part of the new law.
“Limits…have affected parties by the inability to raise large amounts of money from corporations or any one donor,” he says. “Liberals and Conservatives don’t get large corporate donations and the NDP does not get direct compensation by unions.”
“I think the parties that gain from it are those which didn’t have much financing. The Greens should be better prepared this time,” he says.
Langlois brushed off the notion that the Greens benefit the most from the changes.
“Certainly the 2004 election combined with the Elections Act funding meant that the Green Party had significant funds in 2004 that it didn’t have before.”
Langlois says the new rules appear more fair from a democratic point of view because they directly reflect the number of votes the party receives.
But, he says the regulations are inequitable because they don’t allow small parties to receive money. A party qualifies for funding if it gets at least two per cent of all votes cast during the previous election.
The Greens have not yet decided how much money the party will distribute to ridings such as Ottawa Centre.