Canadian Politics. Canadian and American election campaign financing

Canadian Politics
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Canadian Politics
Funding plays an important part in an election process, the manner in which election campaigns have been financed has significantly affected democracy. In countries like the US, election financing determined the primaries, affecting the general elections. Huge sums of money have been donated by lobbyists, business owners, and labor unions donate money to various political parties in order to determine the outcome of the elections. Because of the importance of political parties in several countries, several kinds of literature compares campaign financing and the political system of two countries majorly the US and Canada.
Canadian and American election campaign financing
The US and Canada implemented campaign finance bills as both countries were concerned about the role of various interest groups that were undermining democracy. The US and Canadian election finance laws of the 1970s had similar objectives, which is to restrict lobby groups’ activities. However, the two countries used different approaches (Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014). The US has exerted control over the behavior of lobby group while Canada has sought to ward off potential group activities. As compared to the US who have expanded the scope of what groups can do in campaigns, Canada laws does not put many prohibitions. In general, Canadian electoral system limits expenditures than contributions, while American tries to limit contribution than expenditure (Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014).
Election financing campaigns
In all democratic countries, the election financing campaigns are regulated by the state to prevent corruption during the political campaign process and secure fair and free elections. The state regulates campaign financing to maintain democracy (Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014). In Canada, an independent and non-partisan agency is in place and its reports to parliament directly. The agency is responsible for designing a framework that facilitates a free and transparent elections, this includes monitoring contribution and spending by different entities within the electoral system (Potter & Tavits, 2015). Political parties and candidates are reimbursed for the expenses they incurred during the election period. The state also provides the tax credit for donations to political parties and candidates (Brock & Jansen, 2015).
In Canada, political parties receive a significant portion of funding during election times based on what they have spent. Generally, Canada's political parties have two primary sources of funding these are from political contributions generated from an individual that is subsidized through tax credit and pre-vote subsidies (Brock & Jansen, 2015). The Canadian federal elections limit contributions to political parties and political candidate. According to the Canadian election laws, only individuals, not corporations or trade unions can make donations for political campaigns. Those who are Canadian citizens or permanent resident can contribute to a political party, but there is a set limit (Brock & Jansen, 2015).
The contribution limits include any unpaid expenses in form of loan and loan that was guaranteed during the election year. Contribution limit is a statutory requirement under the section 367(1) which stipulated that the limit cannot increase to more than $ 25million in January of each year (Potter & Tavits, 2015). The laws limit the annual contributions towards all political parties and any contestant seeking any party nominations. According to the election laws, anyone donating can give up to $ 1,500 to a contestant and also an independent candidate .With time; these limits have been revised to $ 25 annually (Potter & Tavits, 2015).
Political parties also face limits of spending during elections. They can spend up to 73.5 percent in each district where they have candidates contesting, however, at the local levels, parties are permitted to spend money based on the number of residents but should not exceed $ 115,000 (Brock & Jansen, 2015). For groups and individual who are not part of any political party, candidates cannot exceed their spending above $ 150,000 during the campaigns with not more than $ 3,000 to be spent in a district during the election period only (Brock & Jansen, 2015).
Canada also introduced campaign financing regulations within its provinces and other territories. Each region has adopted their own political financing regulations. All the provinces and territories have tax credit for the contribution, but have to adhere to the disclosure regulation whereby each territory set their limits on the amount one can donate within a given year except for Yukon, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Alberta (Brock & Jansen, 2015).
Campaign finance in America
Campaign finance in the United States is financed at different levels; these are at federal, state and local levels. At the federal level, the finance Act gives authority to the Federal Election Commission to oversee the election process (Koppl-Turyna, 2014). In the US campaign spending can be financed privately, but public funding is also accessible for those who qualify to run for president at the primary level and during the general election. Although public funding is optional, those who accept government funding have limits on how they spend money (Koppl-Turyna, 2014).
Most American states regulate the candidate contribution and also impose expenditure limits if the only candidate accepts the public funds. The idea of voluntary compliance with public funding in parts of the candidate expenditure applies only for those candidates willing to accept public funds for campaigns (Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014). Thus in the US, the election regulations focus on contribution more than expenditure. In Canada, in several provinces, tends to be opposite, only a few provinces impose contribution limits while others impose expenditure limits (Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014).
Unlike America, the Canadian laws limit election expenses for both parties and of the candidates, but not contributions toward party activities during elections. For Canada, contributions from foreign sources are prohibited, this is meant to limit competition and avoid over-reliance on big business and wealthy individuals (Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014). By contrast, in the US, there are no obstacles in how candidates spend. One notable example is the case of Ross Peru who made a presidential bid in 1992 where she spent $ 60 million of his own money that was half of what both his opponents combined together spent.
The US the federal election law requires all political candidates to make reports of the campaign donation to the federal election committee (FEC)the report, however, does not include huge sums of money that goes to independent committees known as the PACs .In US direct donors can interact with political candidates and donate ,but their donation cannot exceed $ 2,7000 per any presidential candidate(Falguera, Jones & Ohman, 2014). Candidates seeking nominations through political parties for the presidential office are the ones eligible to receive primary matching funds.
There are specific criteria to be followed to be eligible. The candidate needs to show public support and also raise $ 5,000 in all the 20 states. A candidate needs to receive contribution form not less than 20 contributors in at least the 20 states to receive the primary matching funds. The election laws also set specific limits for presidential candidates who accept to receive public funding (Gierzyns...