While the federal election is officially on, not everyone is pleased.
Peter Julian, the NDP incumbent now running in New Westminster Burnaby, criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for calling the election early, after the writ dropped last Sunday.
“Mr. Harper was really clear why he was doing it. He basically wants the taxpayers to subsidize the Conservative attack ads. Every additional day the campaign is being held, you have half-a-million dollars paid for by the taxpayers. That goes to subsidize these Conservative attack adds they’ll be running against the opposition parties,” Julian said. “Mr. Harper said, ‘I’m doing this to save the tax payers some money,’ and I think it’s blatantly false, and I think most Canadians recognize that.”
According to Elections Canada rules, if a candidate spends $100,000 on campaign expenses, 60 per cent of that will be reimbursed, provided he or she secured at least 10 per cent of the vote. For political parties, the reimbursements cover 50 per cent of the expenses, and party limits also increase to cover longer election periods.
The election period officially started on Sunday, Aug. 2, and voting day is Oct. 19, making it one of the longest election periods in Canadian history at 79 days, including election day. The longer the election period, the more each candidate can spend.
The NOW called all three local Conservative candidates, hoping to ask what they thought of the early election call, but none was available for a phone interview.
