Canadians, what's the deal with "official party status"? I gather from the CBC that you need 12 seats to achieve it, but what does it actually do, what's the reasoning behind it, and do people generally like this system?
For context, here in Australia party status is decided pre-election, and only requires you have 1500 active members, or at least 1 incumbent. To my knowledge the only thing it gives you here is more flexibility with respect to campaign financing.
Just having that presence and national media time could vault a proper leader and party forward with the savings from staffing and offices near but not on the hill and could be very beneficial for the right small party. Getting there is the hard part. Grasping it and making it work, hasn't happened yet.
Honestly, I hadn't even heard much about it until this election, and I've been pretty heavily involved in electoral politics. To actually register a party it's just a fee and a few hundred signatures, and the requirement to get a candidate on the ballot is similar.
Even the Green party has sat in the house with their one MP. I'm guessing the official status is more of a symbolic goal, even if it comes with goodies.
Not having official party status doesn't mean an elected MP can't sit in the HoC. It means they can't ask questions, sit on any committees and they receive minimal funding.