The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) called on the Ontario government to fulfil its promise to scrap the province’s political party funding on Monday.
“Despite promising to end sleazy handouts to political parties when he ran for office, Ford has failed to scrap the system,” said CTF Ontario director Jay Goldberg. “He isn’t alone: All four of Ontario’s major political parties have helped themselves to millions of dollars from taxpayers’ wallets.”
Goldberg said all four of the province’s main political parties will take a record $14 million in subsidies by the end of 2021.
These per-vote subsidies amount to political welfare, according to Goldberg. He said taxpayers’ money is being spent on lawn signs, attack ads and junk mail.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford committed to scrapping per-vote subsidies in 2018 but changed his mind in February.
Ontario plans on keeping per-vote subsidies in place until 2024.
Goldberg said it is wrong for Ontario to have them at all.
“The Ford government used the pandemic as an excuse to keep the party with taxpayers’ money going, but the government extended the per-vote subsidy all the way until the end of 2024,” he said. “The premier needs to keep his promise and scrap political welfare.”
Former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne created the per-vote subsidies system in 2014. Under Wynne’s plan, political parties received an annual 55 cent payment for every vote they garnered in the most recent provincial election.
Ford promised to end these subsidies, but instead attorney general Doug Downey announced the province would be increasing them by eight cents a vote.
Downey claimed the raise was necessary because political parties needed help during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID came along, and we want to make sure that we have good, vigorous debate here in Ontario,” said Downey.
