Why candidates run ridings with little hope
Posted Apr 10, 2011 8:53 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You might wonder why some parties and candidates even bother to run in what’s traditionally Tory Blue Alberta.
In the last federal election, the Conservatives won 27 of the 28 seats in the province. Some of the victories were lopsided, like Calgary Southeast where incumbent Jason Kenny won by nearly 36,000 votes.
According to the Calgary Herald, the financing laws for federal elections mean the parties get about two dollars for every vote they receive.
That means in the first quarter of 2011, the Conservative party received $2.6 million in federal funding. By contrast, the Green party, which has no MP’s in the House of Commons but traditionally gets some popular support in federal elections, received $470,000 in the first quarter.
Green candidate Konrad Schellenberg admits the taxpayer subsidy is the reason he’s running for his party, with the hope of making the federal wing of the party stronger.
On the other hand, the Harper Tories, who enjoy the benefit of strong private fund raising in addition to the subsidy, want to phase out the taxpayer subsidy.
NDP candidate Paul Vargis, who’s running in the Tory stronghold of Calgary Centre-North, says his party would persevere without the subsidy. He notes, the NDP has made it through some lean years, but claims Conservative support isn’t as strong as it once was, and his party’s family-first policies are resonating with voters.
In the first quarter of 2011, the New Democrats were the recipients of nearly $1.3 million from the federal funding program, while the Liberals received about $1.8 million.
