Pre-election ads subvert law, says former official

Canada has strict rules limiting spending during election campaigns, but political parties, government, and third-parties “are effectively breaking the spirit of the law” by advertising heavily just before the official campaign begins, says former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley. He says Canada has the world’s best rules governing election spending and who is allowed to contribute, but the law is being subverted.

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In the past, the prime minister could call an election at any time at his or her own discretion. The campaign usually lasted 37 days and advertising would generally not begin until the writs were dropped. But for the first time, this election will take place on a fixed date, in October. The official campaign has not begun, so the rules on spending don’t yet apply, and the advertising has begun in earnest.

Political parties are running attack ads, the government is spending taxpayer money to advertise good things it is doing for the public, and third-party entities sprang up to buy ads criticizing the parties they want defeated.

‘You cannot allow the very rich…to dominate’

This subverts the very purpose of the law that was designed to create a level playing field, says Kingsley. “We as Canadians have felt that in order for freedom of speech to be really effective, you cannot allow the very rich, the very powerful to dominate the airwaves. You must allow everyone to have a chance to speak.”

Acknowledging the law doesn’t create a perfectly level playing field, Kingsley says “it is much better than where money dominates the scene, where people can do advertising to obscene amounts and drown out the voice of others.”

Back to ‘the jungle’

While the current spending is legal, Kingsley says it subverts the purpose of the legislation. “That is setting us back 40 years. It took us 40 years from where we were in the jungle before in terms of money and politics and in one fell swoop we’re right back where we began.”

‘Please stop it’

Kingsley wants election advertising to stop. “I would plead with everyone to stop it. I plead with the government to stop its advertising. It should do so immediately. I’m asking the political parties—all of them—to stop their advertising. Wait for the campaign to begin.

“We agreed, this is how we will do elections in Canada. We’ve agreed to this. Parliament has agreed to this. Canadians wanted this. So, please respect that spirit and stop your advertising. Third parties, the same thing, please stop it.”

To avoid the problem in the future, Kingsley says the law should be changed to lengthen the time it applies to six, eight or even nine months before Election Day.