Ontario taxpayers forking over millions to subsidize political parties

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Ontario taxpayers forked over $13 million to the four political parties represented at Queen’s Park last year.

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It’s time for the political welfare to stop.

Doug Ford promised to end the per-vote subsidy, first brought in by Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government in 2017. The measure came as Liberal fundraising from average citizens was drying up and after Wynne’s government was caught in cash-for-access fundraisers with business executives.

“I do not believe the government should be taking money from hard-working taxpayers and giving it to political parties,” Doug Ford posted to Facebook when he was campaigning for the PC leadership in early 2018.

In February 2021, Ford’s government introduced legislation to extend the per vote subsidy rather than wind it down as promised.

“This subsidy is being extended due to the financial impact of COVID-19,” the government said in a news release at the time.

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There is no doubt that COVID and the restrictions imposed by the Ford government at the time severely impacted the fundraising abilities for all parties involved. The plan was, however, not to immediately eliminate the per-vote subsidy, but to phase it out gradually.

The rate had been $2.54 per year for each vote a party received in the previous election. By 2021, the per-vote subsidy had decreased to $1.80 annually. Ford not only kept the subsidy in place, he boosted it back up to $2.54 until the end of 2024 when all subsidies are scheduled to end.

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In 2023, the PC Party of Ontario received a subsidy of $5.1 million from taxpayers, the NDP received $3.6 million, the Ontario Liberal Party, nearly $3.6 million and the Greens around  $700,000. Another $243,000 was paid out to the New Blue Party of Ontario, a party that isn’t represented in the legislature but met the threshold of receiving 2% of all ballots cast in the 2022 campaign.

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Do the parties really need this money?

The easy answer is no, and that’s why it needs to stop.

The PC Party raised just shy of $8 million last year, the NDP, $3.2 million, the Liberals claim $3.1 million — higher than the $2.1 million reported to Elections Ontario — and the Greens raised $170,000.

Each party is also sitting on a significant surplus.

The PC Party had $8 million in the bank at the end of 2023; the Liberals, $2.5 million; the NDP, $2.1 million; and the Greens, $525,000.

These parties clearly don’t need money from taxpayers.

Supporters of per-vote subsidies will always claim it is about supporting democracy and taking big money out of politics. The reality is, big money has already been taken out of politics in Ontario.

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It has been illegal for the last seven years for companies or unions to donate to a political party. There was a time when both big labour and big business threw their money and weight around in Ontario politics.

In some elections, prior to the ban, unions and union-funded groups would far outspend any single political party.

The current maximum that any single individual can donate is $3,375 per year. Politicians are not changing their votes or their policy positions for a $3,375 donation.

The problem with per-vote subsidies is that it rewards parties based on their past performance, not current performance. If Ford made moves that were wildly unpopular, especially with his voting base, he would hear about it quickly and donations would dry up.

With a guaranteed $5 million per year coming in from taxpayers, he’s less concerned.

Per-vote subsidies always help the party in power most, and not those trying to offer the public an alternative. Parties need to go out and earn your vote to be able to campaign, and they should have to earn your donation, as well.

The per-vote subsidy is scheduled to end on Dec. 31; let’s hope the government sticks to the plan and stops taking our tax dollars to fill party coffers.

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