Oct. 1 is shaping up as an important day on the political calendar.

It's the earliest date that the Liberals can introduce the non-confidence motion they're vowing to bring down the government. It also happens to be the day that Elections Canada releases the third installment of public financing to political parties.

You may recall that under the changes made by the Chrtien government, political parties that meet a certain threshold of votes, receive a subsidy from taxpayers. It's based on a formula that allocates an amount, currently $1.99, per vote received.

Based on that, the Conservative Party will receive $2,602,581.

The Liberals $1,815,230.

The NDP $1,256,701.

The Bloc $689,478.

And The Greens $468,455.

Election campaigns are very expensive things to mount. So you can be sure that the official agent for each party are looking forward to Oct. 1.

Chris Rands