Campaign finance law challenged
Strict spending limits stifle free speech, coalition says
The Working Families union coalition, which has spent millions of dollars on attack ads over the past four provincial elections, is challenging Ontario’s new campaign finance law as unconstitutional.
That’s because the legislation — triggered in part by Star stories — imposes strict spending limits before and during writ periods. The unions, which represent 250,000 private- and public-sector members, feel that is a curb on freedom of expression guarantees in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“We are asking the court to look at these provisions and rule on their constitutionality as they relate to how groups and individuals can effectively participate in the election process,” Working Families’ Patrick Dillon said.
“The way the current law is written raises serious concerns. The restrictions placed on groups like Working Families are designed to stifle free speech and participation at the most crucial time, during an election,” Dillon said.
Under changes in effect for the June 7 election campaign, so-called “third-party” advertising is capped at $600,000 in the six months before a scheduled election and $100,000 during the writ period.
In the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2014 elections, Working Families spent millions of dollars on ads attacking the Progressive Conservatives.
That advertising played a big role in helping the Liberals win those campaigns.
While Working Families aired a blitz of commercials blasting Tory Leader Patrick Brown last fall before the six-month cut-off deadline, the unions’ charter challenge targets the Liberals they have helped elect.
Dillon said the new law passed in 2016 serves as “a gag on free speech by allowing only government and corporate media to have unfettered access to Ontarians.”
“The Ontario government has no such restrictions during the six months leading up to an election and neither do the media. How are ordinary Ontarians and the organizations they support to get their concerns known?”
Filed by lawyer Paul Cavalluzo, Working Families’ 21-page application to the Ontario Superior Court argues that the “political advertising” provisions on the amended Elections Finances Act “violate the fundamental right to free expression guaranteed under section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
That section enshrines the “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”
Cavalluzzo hopes the courts will issue “a declaration that the impugned provisions of the act are unconstitutional and of no force and effect.”
Attorney General Yasir Naqvi has always maintained that the legislation, which passed unanimously at Queen’s Park on Dec. 1, 2016, could withstand a constitutional challenge.