Suchergebnisse

Federal prohibitions of corporate & union contributions have been motivated by 2 objectives: to reduce or eliminate domination of the electoral process by business & labor through their aggregated wealth, & to protect stockholders & union members from having their organizations' funds used for political purposes of which they do not approve. Federal regulations have been largely ineffective in preventing corporate & union monies from reaching political candidates & parties both legally & illegally. Recent developments, including passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 as amended in 1974, important decisions by the Supreme Court since 1972, & rulings by the Federal Election Commission, have widened the area of legal campaign-related activities in which corporations & labor organizations can engage, particularly through political action committees. The liberalization of previous restrictions, together with more rigorous & effective electoral disclosure requirements, & widespread public suspicion concerning the political activities of "special interests" make it likely that business corporations & labor unions will be quite circumspect in their election involvements during 1976. However, several legal & political issues which could affect corporate & union campaign activities in 1976 & beyond, remain unresolved. Modified HA.

Federal prohibitions of corporate and union con tributions have been motivated by two objectives: to reduce or eliminate domination of the electoral process by business and labor through their aggregated wealth; and to protect stock- holders and union members from having their organizations' funds used for political purposes of which they do not approve. Federal regulations have been largely ineffective in prevent ing corporate and union monies from reaching political candi dates and parties both legally and illegally. Recent develop ments, including passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 as amended in 1974, important decisions by the Supreme Court since 1972, and rulings by the Federal Elec tion Commission, have widened the area of legal campaign- related activities in which corporations and labor organizations can engage, particularly through political action committees. The liberalization of previous restrictions, together with more rigorous and effective electoral disclosure requirements, and widespread public suspicion concerning the political activities of "special interests" make it likely that business corporations and labor unions will be quite circumspect in their election involvements during 1976. However, several legal and polit ical issues which could affect corporate and union campaign activities in 1976 and beyond remain unresolved.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO MAKE EXPLICIT CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE REDISTRIBUTION PROCEDURE IN THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM. THE AUTHORS ATTEMPT TO ACHIEVE THIS END BY TAKING A VERY BROAD PERSPECTIVE SO THAT THE OPERATION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY BOUNDARY COMMISSION IS SEEN ALONGSIDE SIMILAR WORK CARRIED OUT IN OTHER COUNTRIES WHICH ALSO ELECT REPRESENTATIVES FROM SINGLE MEMBER CONSTITUENCIES.

A calculation similar in manner to that employed by the Advisory Committee on Election Expenses, and by the author for earlier elections, reveals that a conservative estimate of over-all spending by political parties and candidates in the 1972 federal general election campaign would have amounted to well over $31 million. To complete the picture of the cash outlay on the federal electoral process one should add the $20,435,277.54 spent by the chief electoral officer on the 1972 federal general election, as well as the value of free broadcasting time supplied to parties and candidates by the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the private stations. (In addition, the unknown costs of obtaining a party's nomination by constituency candidates and the pro-rated costs of the representation commissioner and electoral boundary commissioners calculated by Professor Norman Ward at $200,000 per election must be computed in order to arrive at the full cost of the electoral process.)