Michael Laxer, who has run for the NDP in previous federal and provincial elections, says candidates have to post a $15,000 entry fee and then give the party 40 per cent of all the money they raise.

Laxer says the leadership race should be an opportunity to allow new and different voices to come forward, but that's not going to happen if the party sticks to the onerous financial requirements.

"What you get by doing that is you manifestly limit the number of people who are outside the party establishment, and who have available big backers of one kind or another," he said.

But Ontario NDP president Sandra Clifford says the party needs the money in order to pay for the leadership race. She also points out that $5,000 of the entry fee is refundable at the end of the contest.

"Right now," Clifford told CBC News, "the Ontario NDP cannot afford to go into debt as a result of this leadership exercise."

But Laxer says the entrance fee will limit the race to the party establishment and stifle the democratic process.

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