ELECTORAL-LAW EDICT BOOSTS SMALL PARTIES

Funding Rules Stunted Growth, Judge Finds

An Ontario judge has struck down an electoral law that permitted
large federal political parties to fill their coffers with public
money at the expense of smaller parties.

Superior Court Judge Ted Matlow ruled yesterday that the law is
undemocratic, unequal and stunts the growth of small parties for no
valid reason.

The money will be awarded retroactively to 2003 and, including
interest charges, brings the total the parties will share to
approximately $500,000.

"We're thrilled," said Tracy Parsons, leader of the Progressive
Canadian Party. "Another piece of democracy has been served. I can't
say that I'm 100-per-cent in favour of tax dollars being used to fund
political parties, but I'm certainly not in favour of them funding
only select parties."

The judgment was a major victory for a coalition of seven small
political parties that argued that the law -- which took effect in
2004 -- violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by unfairly
giving $1.75 for each vote cast only to federal parties with more
than 2 per cent of the national popular vote.

"I consider that the existence of the threshold diminishes public
confidence in the electoral process and encourages a public
perception that the threshold exists only to benefit the major
political parties, who alternate, from time to time, in forming the
government and are in a position to maintain it," Judge Matlow said yesterday.

He said that having an eligibility threshold "perverts" democracy by
forcing small parties to make a tactical decision whether to target
certain ridings in order to reach the percentage of the total vote
they need to trigger the payments.

Small parties will henceforth have a greater chance to thrive and
attract voters who see their votes providing a tangible financial
benefit, Judge Matlow said.

The coalition that challenged the law includes the Marijuana Party;
the Christian Heritage Party; the Canadian Action Party; the
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada; the Green Party; the Progressive
Canadian Party; and the Communist Party of Canada.

The coalition's lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, estimated that based on
their vote totals in the last federal election, the Marijuana Party
would get about $60,000 a year; the Christian Heritage Party $70,000;
and the Communist Party $8,000.

He estimated that under the funding scheme, the Liberal Party
receives about $8.7-million annually; the Conservative Party
$7-million; the NDP $3.7-million and the Bloc Quebecois almost $3-million.

"I'm very happy," Mr. Rosenthal said. "Even though the amount of
money the small parties will get is minuscule compared to the big
parties, it is significant to them, and it will allow them to emerge
as bigger parties over the years."

Judge Matlow struck the law down using two sections of the Charter of
Rights: the Section 15 equality guarantee and the Section 3 guarantee
of fair voting rights. He said that voting rights involve "much more
than the mere right to enter a voting booth and mark a ballot that is
counted in an election."

Printing and distributing campaign literature and advertising in the
media entails great expense, Judge Matlow said.