campaign spending
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The Made-Up Law Made Them Do It
The Supreme Court’s made-up right to vote doctrine works its mischief at the Ontario Court of Appeal Continue reading
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If It’s Broke, You’re Not the One to Fix It
The Québec Court of Appeal takes it upon itself to update obsolete election legislation. That’s not its job. Continue reading
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The System Is Working
Environmentalist groups have a point when they say they are being muzzled by Elections Canada; trouble is, that’s exactly how the law is meant to work Continue reading
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Australia 1:0 Canada
Canadians have much to learn from the Australian High Court’s take on election spending limits for “third parties” Continue reading
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Permanent Campaign or Permanent Censorship?
Richard Pildes has an interesting post over at the Election Law Blog, discussing Michael Ignatieff’s take on the “circumvention” of election campaign spending limits by the Conservative Party of Canada in their “permanent campaign” which, Prof. Ignatieff believes (and, in fairness to him, so do many others), destroyed him as a potential Prime Minister. The “permanent Continue reading
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Bad Timing
In an interesting story yesterday, the Globe and Mail reported that “British Columbia’s largest public-sector union is appealing a fine of more than $3-million levied by Elections BC over a television advertisement that aired during the spring by-elections.” The union started an ad campaign three days before the by-elections were called. As the article tells the story Continue reading
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The Moneyed Interests
Restrictions on pre-electoral spending by citizens and groups other than political parties and their candidates (known in the jargon as “third-party spending”) have gained a rather unlikely supporter: Tom Flanagan. Prof. Flanagan, arguably Canada’s most prominent conservative thinker, has come out in support of such restrictions in an op-ed in the Globe and Mail. This Continue reading
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Student Protests and Election Law
Cyberpresse (La Presse’s website) has published my op-ed (en français) on the effects a possible spring election in Québec would have on the student protests against tuition fee hikes. In a nutshell, I argue that, given their explicit opposition to the Liberal government, any expenses the protesters would engage in during an election campaign would count Continue reading
Double Aspect 