MPPs quietly agree to continue subsidizing Ontario political parties

Against the backdrop of a — and with attention focused on the U.S. presidential campaign — MPPs have quietly agreed to extend public funding of Ontario political parties.

In a news release Wednesday afternoon without any fanfare, Attorney General Doug Downey’s ministry announced that the per-vote subsidy of parties that was to have been eliminated on Dec. 31 will continue until the end of 2026. “With the support of all parties in the legislature, the Ontario government is proposing amendments to the Election Finances Act that would .



.. extend the payment of quarterly allowances to registered political parties and constituency associations for another two years,” Downey’s department said.

Each , the governing Progressive Conservatives receive about $1.2 million, the Liberals $714,000, the New Democrats $710,000, the Greens $178,000, the New Blue Party $81,000, and the Ontario Party $53,000. That’s 63.

6 cents per vote every three months, based on the results from the 2022 election. While Premier Doug Ford has long said he opposed the public funding of political parties, his party benefits the most from the subsidies, which were introduced by the previous Liberal government. The payments go to registered political parties whose candidates received at least two per cent of valid votes cast across the province, or five per cent of those cast in the ridings in which the party fielded a candidate.

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