TORONTO — Ontario’s chief electoral officer recommended Monday that the Liberal government’s legislation to tighten fundraising rules include stricter provisions on third-party advertising.
The bill was introduced last month and started committee hearings with Greg Essensa as the first witness.
There are currently no spending limits on third-party advertising in Ontario, but the new legislation proposes to limit third parties to spending $100,000 in an election period and $600,000 in the six months before the writ drops for a scheduled general election.
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Essensa said he is concerned that the law, as it stands, wouldn’t regulate third-party advertising during the whole period between elections.
“The spending on advertising between elections that directly depicts leaders and their parties and specifically advocates that citizens support or oppose them when they are next at the ballot box should be regulated,” he said.
“I would note that even if there are no limits imposed, it would serve Ontarians well to know who is spending what on trying to affect the outcome of the next election.”
The bill should also include provisions that prohibit co-ordination among political parties and third-party advertisers, specifically banning co-ordination when former political staff, party officials or consultants are involved with a third party that is doing political advertising, Essensa said.
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“The primary risk of collusion in respect of third-party advertising … is collusion between those running for office and third parties,” he said.
“For example, a candidate may be tempted to co-ordinate his or her activities with a sympathetic third-party advertiser in order to circumvent contribution and spending limits. I think that (the bill) should have more stringent anti-collusion provisions.”
In the 2007 general election, third parties spent a total of $1.85 million, or five per cent of all election spending, and in the last general election in 2014, third parties spent $8.64 million, which amounted to 17 per cent of all election spending.
Unions were some of the largest third-party advertisers during the last election. The Working Families Coalition, known for its anti-Tory ads, spent $2.5 million during last year’s campaign, with contributions from some of the province’s biggest unions.
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The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association spent $2.2 million and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario spent $1.3 million, records show.
The legislation would ban corporate and union donations, as well as reduce the amount individuals can contribute to parties.
Individuals would be able to contribute a total of $7,750 to each party and its candidates and riding associations in an election year, or about $6,200 in non-election years.
Current political donation limits in Ontario are $9,975 for a political party, $6,650 to the candidates of a party, and $6,650 to the constituency associations of a party, but the rules often allow multiple contributions.
Essensa said the lowered thresholds “may not significantly limit what donors actually give parties and candidates,” as 94 per cent of all individual contributions in the 2014 election were for less than $1,330.
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