Unilateral disarmament is a tough sell to a general facing combat. Not much easier to persuade of its merits is a political boss facing a tough campaign. So we should not be surprised that the time bomb planted by Stephen Harper 17 years ago as CEO of the National Citizen’s Coalition (NCC), has now exploded in his face, as his enemies take up the tactics he pioneered.

The hard-right Conservative advocacy group he headed was famous for its aggressive fundraising to promote vicious attack ads against Liberals and New Democrats. They lost a challenge to the Supreme Court about such kibitzing from the sidelines during an election campaign, but received indirect approval to advertise at other times. And the TV networks, foolishly and for the first time, agreed to take these ads. It was the first crack in a uniquely Canadian, and internationally respected, campaign finance system.

The seeds of the Tory 24/7 political war machine were planted then, as was the later decision to import U.S.-style political action committees or PACs.

The NCC was itself inspired by the early PACs, and it spawned several progressive counterparts. The nuclear escalation continued this year with the launch of the ironically titled business advocacy PAC Working Canadians. And this month, the latest new artillery to join the battle, also from the anti-Harper side, is the generously funded Engage Canada team.

Working Families was very effective in undermining Tim Hudak in Ontario; Engage Canada looks to repeat their success in kneecapping the Harperites. So what, you say?

The essence of a campaign finance regime is to level the playing field, to ensure that money cannot buy an election. The sad part is that for more than 30 years Canada had one of the most admired systems in the democratic world. But foolish decisions by a succession of prime ministers weakened it, and Stephen Harper dealt the final blow.

The sight of billionaires “adopting” a candidate by writing cheques in the tens of millions of dollars is humiliating to Americans today. In Canada, under the current lax rules, we’re increasingly vulnerable to a similar corrosion of our democracy.

Today we have one party that has amassed twice as much money as its peers, using its advantage of power. And in our weakened system the Conservatives can spend it any time they like. As Canadians have seen, they have, devastating three Liberal leaders in a row in pre-election attack ad campaigns. This is on top of the tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money they spend on thinly veiled partisan promotion called “public service ads.”

Now the Tories have spawned several “independent” conservative PACs to support their party message, and Liberals and New Democrats have belatedly responded. Each PAC vehemently declares its independence from its partisan cousins, with as much credibility as the piano player in the brothel.

No one can criticize the non-Harper players for climbing on the PAC bandwagon; they would have been foolish to unilaterally disarm themselves. It was Conservatives who brought down our once-celebrated system. The PAC escalation was an inevitable consequence.

But blame aside, the rise of PACs has created a pressing democratic problem in this country.

When outsiders with the most money can help determine the choice of government, when governments can bend the rules and abuse taxpayer dollars for partisan benefit with impunity, we are drifting quickly back to a darker time. Voters will not be blamed for turning up their nose in disgust at this return to dirtier days in Canadian politics.

The campaign finance reforms that created the previous, well-respected systems in the U.S. and Canada were the direct results of major scandals in both countries. Ontario and Quebec let the money men too close to power. Watergate revealed that Richard Nixon kept a safe with a million dollars in small bills in his private office.

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Let us hope that we do not need to slide to that level again before we begin the process of rebuilding a more Canadian approach to controlling the financing of political campaigns.

Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe, was an NDP party strategist for 20 years.

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