MARIJUANA, CHRISTIAN HERITAGE PARTIES JOIN FORCES IN RULES BATTLE

One is the party of holy water and the burning bush, the other of bong
water and burning grass -- about as incompatible a coupling as you
could find.

Yet the Marijuana and Christian Heritage parties are among a motley
crew of political fringers joining forces to challenge new campaign
finance rules promising thousands of dollars to political parties that
capture at least 2% of the popular vote.

The suit, to be launched from the hinterlands of Canadian politics by
the Christian Heritage, Communist, Marijuana, Marxist-Leninist, Green
and Canadian Action parties, seeks to remove that 2% threshold.

The new finance rules, entrenched in the Canada Elections Act in
January, all but eliminate corporate and union donations to political
parties, and give $1.75 per vote cast to parties that rake in more
than 2% of the national vote or 5% in individual ridings.

"If public funds are going to be given, at least it has to be done on
an equitable basis," said Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa, who
launched a similar challenge that last year wrought a Supreme Court
decision lowering the number of candidates required for registered
party status from 50 to one.

The precedent puts the fringe parties in good stead for a win on the
financing issue, too, they say.

"We pretty much share the opinion that it's a slam dunk," said
Marijuana Party leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice.

The parties argue the 2% threshold infringes upon the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms by excluding smaller and alternative voices from
the political process.

"It's the big guys keeping out the small guys," said Peter Rosenthal,
the lawyer who steered Mr. Figueroa's suit to Supreme Court success
last year and who has now agreed to take on the 2% law.

Ron Gray, leader of the Christian Heritage Party -- which supports its
policies with Biblical references and seeks to outlaw abortion and
homosexuality -- acknowledged the oddity of partnering with the likes
of the Marijuana and Communist parties.

"I don't agree with the Communist Party and their commitment to
atheism. That's their religion -- I have mine," Mr. Gray said. "I
certainly do not agree with the Marijuana Party and their advocacy of
liberalizing access to another stupefying agent for our young people."

He added, however: "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. These
guys are capable of being right on some things even though they're
wrong on the major things."

Uniting the parties, he said, is their shared commitment to a level
playing field, if nothing else.

"What we're talking about here is purely the question of preserving
democracy in Canada," said Mr. Gray, who describes the 2% threshold
law as "a formula for preserving the status quo and using tax dollars
to do it."

Also participating in the action is the Green Party -- despite the
likelihood its 308 candidates will put the party over the 2% threshold
and for the first time and secure it steady funding.

Under the new rules, parties receiving 300,000 or more votes will get
$525,000 annually from the federal government that could go to staff,
advertising and research.

"We support the new finance law," said Green leader Jim Harris, who
called the regulations the first step toward proportional
representation.

But Mr. Harris said the threshold has to go: "If five people vote for
party XYZ, that party should get five times $1.75. "

Parliament introduced the public subsidies to replace corporate and
union donations, which have been restricted to $1,000 per election
period.

The regulations also limit donations by individuals to $5,000 a year.