LIBERALS STILL TRYING TO CIRCUMVENT DONATIONS LAWS

I saw this amusing propaganda piece on the Liberal website today...

"Accountability Act Puts Convention in Jeopardy"

Essentially, the Liberals are charging a whopping $995 in fees to Liberals who would like to attend the leadership convention. Apparently, this $995 buys... nothing.

The Conservative’s Accountability Act could make it illegal for anyone who's donated more than $5 to the Liberal Party of Canada this year to attend the December Leadership Convention, said the Party’s National Director Steve MacKinnon.

“This is the most anti-democratic piece of legislation I've ever seen,” said Mr. MacKinnon. “It seems strange that the Conservatives, with their Reform tradition, want to be the party which silences the voices of party activists in national political parties.''

Actually, the Reform tradition was the involvement of the grassroots. Grassroots members don't donate $1000. They donate small amounts. The Liberals don't have a clue about this. That's why the only people that donate to them are a few rich elites.

Under the proposed legislation, the maximum amount which individuals are allowed to donate to a political party will be decreased to $1,000 from $5,400 per year. But according to Elections Canada, any fees paid to attend a political convention constitute a political donation, therefore making the $995 fee to attend the Leadership convention account for 99.5 per cent of the delegate’s allowable political donation. For those delegates traveling more than 700 km to attend the Montreal gathering, a portion of the fee will include a travel subsidy; which will not count as a donation.

How about you.. DON'T CHARGE THE RIDICULOUS SUM OF $995 FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP CONVENTION? I'm astonished that the Liberal party powers-that-be are even willing to admit that they charge this much. Conventions aren't supposed to be fundraisers. They're supposed to be a chance for the rank-and-file to be heard. Charging $995 is exclusionary and I know several Liberals who won't be able to attend because of that fee. Furthermore, in conventions that I've been to (none of which costed this much), the only portion of the fee that counted as a donation was the part that didn't go to cover costs. Which means the Liberals are essentially saying that delegates are getting NOTHING for their $995.

Liberal MPs had proposed to the House of Commons committee studying the bill to make convention fees exempt, to increase the limit of individual donations to $2,000 or to delay implementation of the act until Jan. 1, 2007, but all amendments were rejected by the Conservatives and NDP MPs.

Right... and as if we're all too stupid to realize how that would work. Make convention fees exempt, and we get to witness a bunch of fake "conventions" consisting of Apotex executives, each paying a $20,000 delegate fee.

Or, you make the limit $2,000, and you defeat the purpose of the law. Furthermore, the Liberals could simply charge a fee of $1,995 and toss the same spin our way... and what difference would it make if they delay implementation of the act until 2007? Are we to assume that the Liberals will never have another convention? Won't the same imaginary "problem" still come up?

This is spin of the worst kind. The victims are rank and file Liberals - those who don't have $1000 to toss at a convention that the party is clearly trying to use as a fundraiser. I actually have a lot of sympathy for the grassroots members who won't be able to attend due to the high cost. One of the major problems with the Liberal party right now is that a few elites have far more control that they should have. Decisions like this only make the problem worse.

If you're going to charge $995 for a convention, you better at least provide some value for it. The way it stands, it sounds like a lot of people are getting ripped off.

Lower the fee.