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Much has been written and said about changes to the Elections Act that will affect voters. New identification rules mean you won’t be able to use your voter card as ID; vouching for other voters will be restricted; and the role of Elections Canada has been changed. Some of these changes have been challenged in the courts.

Other changes to the Elections Act, passed into law recently with the Fair Elections Act, means we can likely expect an early start to the election period. With the first debate of all the federal leaders set for Aug. 6, don’t be surprised to hear the election has been called shortly after. Here is why.

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1. The longer the campaign goes, the more money parties and candidates can spend, and they get 50 per cent of whatever they spend from taxpayers.

The spending limit on past elections was fixed. This time, every additional day above 37 days, the party and candidates can spend an additional 1/37th of that limit. That is approximately $685,000 a day for the party and over $900,000 a day for the candidates in all 338 ridings combined. For example, if the election starts on Aug. 10, an additional 29 days, the total party spending limit would go from $25 million to $45 million and total riding limits would increase from $34 million to more than $60 million. A combined $105 million per party. Although per-vote subsidies have been eliminated, the rebates that parties and local campaigns receive will mean the taxpayer could be on the hook for up to $53 million per party after this election, this on top of the estimated $300 million it costs to run the election itself.