By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 26, 2011
Budget will phase out political subsidies
The government will table its post-election budget on June 6, a document that will implement the Conservatives’ promise to phase out political subsidies.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the announcement Wednesday morning on Parliament Hill.
“On Monday, June 6 our government will reintroduce the next phase of Canada’s economic action plan, a low tax plan for jobs and growth,” Flaherty said.
The document will include several updates to reflect election promises, but Flaherty said the budget will be almost identical to the document that was unveiled prior to the election. The original budget died when the election writ was dropped, and never went to a vote in the House of Commons.
Among the changes: the budget will make good on a Conservative election promise to end political subsidies.
“We will include phasing out the per-vote political party subsidy as according to what was set out in the platform…which was a phasing out,” Flaherty said when asked by CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife.
The budget will also set aside $2.2 billion to fund an agreement the government hopes to reach with Quebec to create a Harmonized Sales Tax.
With the Conservatives’ new majority government status, there is little doubt the budget will pass.
New Democrat Leader Jack Layton lashed out over the elimination of the political party subsidies, suggesting the move was damaging to democracy (Source: CTV News) http://www.ctvnews.ca/budget-due-june-6-will-phase-out-political-subsidies-1.648866