Green candidate calls out Harper for pre-election spending

In response to a federal byelection being declared in Sudbury this week, Green Party candidate David Robinson is criticizing the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper over what he calls “the Conservatives' buy-a-riding strategy.”

“The Conservatives are brilliant at spending public money to get themselves elected,” Robinson is quoted as saying in a new release Tuesday.

“The Election Act says that the longer the election, the more money candidates can spend. This 168-day campaign is designed to drench taxpayers with publicly funded advertising.

“Stephen Harper intends to outspend the other political parties. He's already using taxpayers' money to do it by running clearly partisan ads during the NHL playoffs. This byelection call is another abuse of taxpayers' money.”

Alice Funke of Pundits Guide estimates that candidates will be able to spend as much as $400,000 each – almost four times the amount permissible during a regular general election. All candidate campaign spending receives a 60 per cent rebate from taxpayers.

“You're looking at $6 million in allowable, rebatable candidate election expenses,” Funke wrote on her blogsite on May 3.

“The more money a party has to start with, the more tax money it gets back,” says Robinson. “Get ready for a flood of political advertising from the main parties. Then when the general election is called, they hit the reset button and can start spending your money again.”

Three federal byelections were called this past weekend, each with an election date of Oct.19 – the same date designated by Canada's fixed election law for a general election.

“In the Green Party, we do politics differently,” Robinson said in the release. “We obviously won’t spend more than the amount allowable during a regular general election. I challenge the candidates from the other parties to publicly declare their support and respect for taxpayers by pledging to do the same.”