FROM THE HILL TIMES: The Oct. 19 federal election is expected to be the most expensive in Canada’s political history because, for the first time, the election date is known and pre-election spending will be big, say MPs, party strategists, and third-party organizations.
“If third parties take a leaf out of our book, then it could be informative and helpful advertising. If they decide to go negative and follow the way Mr. Harper’s party runs ads, we can find ourselves in a toxic swamp.” Elizabeth May, Green Party leader
The House of Commons is scheduled to start its summer recess on June 23 and won’t return until after the Oct. 19 election. This means that MPs, political parties, and third-party groups are going to start campaigning for the next election almost full-time right after the adjournment of the House and will continue until the election day.
The spending cap for the major national parties in the last election was around $21-million. According to Elections Canada, in the last election, the New Democratic Party spent $20,319,567, the Liberal Party $19,483, 917, the Conservative Party $19,457,420 and the Green Party spent $1,924,478.
