It's only money, but the governing Conservatives have plenty more than their rivals and to appeal to their base, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his ministers and government have consistently tabled bills, made occasional bare knuckled right-wing statements and managed Parliamentary affairs in such a way that core supporters will be inspired to send off cheques over the past five years, the opposition says.
Pollster Nik Nanos told The Hill Times last week that the occasional positioning—witness the controversial decision to deep-six the mandatory long form of Canada's census last summer—is required to satisfy the party's hard core after the government takes moderate turns that would curdle the blood of Prime Minister Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) old Reform and Canadian Alliance colleagues.
"They have to feed the beast," Mr. Nanos said. "If periodically through every year they're doing something [moderate], that means there is pressure on them to continue to have kind of incremental issues for fundraising, which explains why things surface with a particular regularity."
Part of the story recently may involve the drop in donor support the Conservatives experienced in the first quarter of this year compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. Oddly, considering the recession was peaking late that year, the Conservatives racked up $4.9-million in donations from September to the end of December.
They took in only $4-million from January 1 to March 31 this year. The Liberals also dropped but to $1.3-million from $1.9-million. In the second and third quarters this year the Conservatives raised $4.1-million and $4-million respectively, compared to $3.9-million and $4.5-million in the same period this year.
But the Liberals fell again in donations for the third quarter, even though party leader Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.) was stirring up a bit of buzz crisscrossing the country in his Liberal express and bringing the party up slightly in public opinion polls.
Did the Conservatives hold steady in donor levels because of the government's census decision, most likely popular with its base, and Prime Minister Harper's earlier controversial refusal to include funding for abortion in the government's proposal for developed countries to finance a maternal health plan for undeveloped countries, primarily in Africa?
Did financial support from the base also hold steady in the fall because the government finally reintroduced tough-on-crime bills that had been suspended when Prime Minister Harper prorogued Parliament at the end of 2009?
Coincidentally or not, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson (Niagara Falls, Ont.) also moved some of the most prominent crime bills, including the Eliminating Entitlements for Prisoners Act and the Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murderers Act, just as the government called the three federal byelections in Ontario and Manitoba for this week.
NDP House Leader Libby Davies (Vancouver East, B.C.) said her party believes the government does attempt to inspire donations from the Conservative base by bringing in legislation or other measures that matches the political and societal attitudes of core supporters.
"This is all about the optics of their political agenda, and what suits their agenda, to appeal to their base, it's very frustrating as a Parliamentarian to see how they manipulate the political agenda and the agenda of the House," Ms. Davies told The Hill Times.
"Think of this, we have massive items that are buried in budget bills, they have no problem bundling up major significant issues and trying to bury them in a budget bill and rush it through, but on the crime bills, what do they do? They trot them out one at a time, these little boutique bills, and some of them, they sit on them," she said, pointing to Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's (Portage-Lisgar, Man.) private member's bill to eliminate the long-gun registry. "They could have moved it up, they sat on it because they wanted it out there, for window dressing."
Another example could be a bill that brought in tougher penalties for auto theft, a major crime concern in Winnipeg, where one of this week's federal byelections will be held.
The bill received final approval by the Senate on June 8. But, though it would obviously be a pressing issue in Winnipeg, it did not receive royal assent, a government timing prerogative, until Nov. 18, 11 days before the byelections.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (Provencher, Man.) appeared at a joint news conference in his home province of Manitoba to tout the new law.
"There is no question this is deliberately, consciously planned for their own optics around fundraisers, byelections, whatever, it's just a manipulative and cynical approach to managing the public agenda," Ms. Davies said.
Party spokesman Fred DeLorey declined to respond, saying the Conservative Party does not comment on its fundraising activities.
Conservative MP Rob Merrifield (Yellowhead, Alta.), the minister of state for transport, described the opposition position as "speculation."
The Conservatives last year raised $17.7-million in donations and contributions, aside from $10.3-million in a public allowance through Elections Canada. The Liberal Party raised $9-million in donations, apart from $1-million in leadership contributions still being raised to pay off debts from the party's 2006 leadership contest and $7-million from the public allowance. The NDP raised $4-million in donations and contributions and received $5-million in a public allowance.
The Hill Times
Source: The Hill Times
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