I've taken part in many iterations of this debate, and I think there are good arguments on both sides. Some countries, of course, have a system of public funding for political parties. Federally, in Canada, Parliament decided to take away political parties' access to that funding and to limit their funding to contributions from individual Canadians.
I'm intrigued, but not convinced, by the arguments in favour of public funding for political parties. Nevertheless, I think it's a valid argument. I believe you or your colleague brought that up in the House during second reading debate, and I think it's a fair point.
Obviously, Canadian taxpayers contribute to the funding of all parties through tax refunds, which means political parties do receive public funding, but through our income tax system, not directly. That is the choice that was made in the past, and we decided not to revisit it in this review of the Canada Elections Act. It's a never-ending debate, as far as I'm concerned.