Monsef doesn’t like pro-life ads
Peterborough-Kawartha MP urges people offended by pro-life bus ads complain to Advertising Standards Canada.
MP Maryam Monsef says she’s not happy about pro-life advertisements on Peterborough Transit, but the federal government cannot order them removed - so concerned citizens may want to complain to the body that regulates Canada’s ad industry.
Monsef is the MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, and also the Minister for the Status of Women. She used Peterborough Transit a lot, growing up in the city.
On Thursday, she wrote on her personal Facebook page that she doesn’t like the ads. If you don’t either, she wrote, you can file a formal complaint with Advertising Standards Canada.
Monsef was clear, in her Facebook post.
“As someone who rode Peterborough Transit for much of my life, I would prefer not to see these ads in our public space,” she wrote. “However, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ensures that all Canadians have the right to free speech, peaceful protest and freedom of assembly. Unless these anti-choice ads break the law, they are entitled to these protections.”
Since the feds “cannot take action to stop or mitigate these ads,” Monsef wrote, citizens may take it up with Advertising Standards Canada (ASC).
That’s a not-for-profit group that regulates the advertising industry. Its website states that anyone can email a written concern about any ad currently running in Canada (including transit ads).
ASC has a standards council that reviews concerns about advertisements, says its website – and the council can ask an advertiser to either amend or withdraw an ad.
Complaints can be submitted directly through the ASC website.
The ads on Peterborough Transit were sponsored by the national pro-life group Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (CCBR). The ads are expected to remain on two buses for the next three months.
Although the city initially refused the ads, it later relented (so as not to violate the CCBR’s right to free speech).
CCRB later obtained a court order to ensure the city would stick to its promise to use the ads. The city didn’t seek to contest the order, and so it didn’t send a lawyer to court.
The ads starting appearing on Peterborough Transit buses on Tuesday, and are expected to remain until early June. The two buses carrying the ads will switch routes at random, over the next three months.
Several women spoke to city council at a meeting on Monday about the ads. Some asked councillors for an apology, saying the ads should never have been allowed to run.
In her Facebook post, Monsef congratulated those who’ve spoken up about the issue.
“I want to commend all those who have been engaging respectfully in this conversation about a difficult topic,” she wrote.
NOTE: The Advertising Standards Canada is at www.adstandards.com/en/ConsumerComplaints/theConsumerComplaintsProcess.aspx.