Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson and the rest of the Wildrose caucus aren't jumping for joy over the latest moves by the NDP.

In committee on Wednesday, NDP MLA Rod Loyola, proposed a motion that would see taxpayers refund half the campaign expenses for political parties and candidates as long as they get 10 per cent of the vote which the Canadian Taxpayers Association says works out to $9,042,861.30.

Anderson says really?

"I actually sit on the committee and was quite stunned by the fact Loyola would actually introduce this at this time. Calgary and Alberta and Albertans are in the worst recession in the last 20 years that I can remember and this guy wants the taxpayers to fund his political party. It's ridiculous."

He says it's just an attempt to prop up the NDP's coffers at taxpayer expense.

In a release the Wildrose's Shadow Justice Minister Scott Cyr says:

“It’s astounding that the NDP would think this is a good idea, especially at a time when over 100,000 Albertans have lost work, and business confidence and investment has fled our Province for safer and more stable political jurisdictions,” Cyr said. “The NDP shouldn't disguise this as something it’s not. They want Albertans to hand over millions to their political party, and they should just say it.”

In a release from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, CTF Alberta Director Paige MacPherson says:

 “The NDP government was right to ban donations from government employee unions with forced membership dues because those union members have no choice,” said MacPherson. “Handing political parties money, forced out of the pockets of taxpayers, is wrong for the exact same reason.”

Political parties already offer generous tax credits for campaign donations. If an Alberta family donates $200 to a political party, they receive a tax credit of 75 per cent. If the same family donates $200 to a charity, they receive a combined provincial-federal tax credit of only 25 per cent.

“Alberta's political parties already have the luxury of donation tax credits three times higher than charities have,” said MacPherson. “The government’s focus should not be on stuffing parties’ coffers with over $9 million taxpayer dollars for a partisan election campaign.”