Coalition of unions challenging Ontario’s campaign finance law as unconstitutional
The Working Families coalition of unions, which has spent millions on attack ads over the past four provincial elections, says Ontario’s new campaign finance law violates freedom of expression guarantees.

TheStar.com
Jan. 23, 2018
Robert Benzie

The Working Families union coalition, which has spent millions on attack ads over the past four provincial elections, is challenging Ontario’s new campaign finance law as unconstitutional.

That’s because the reform legislation — triggered in part by a series of Star stories — imposes strict spending limits before and during writ periods.

The unions feel that is an unlawful 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,” said Working Families’ Patrick Dillon.

“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,” said Dillon.

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 the past 15 years.

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 is hoping the courts will ultimately issue “a declaration that the impugned provisions of the act are unconstitutional and of no force and effect.”

He said the law impedes unions and others from “effectively presenting their views and concerns publically during the six month pre-election period in a fixed-date election, while the Legislature is in session, thereby restricting the reasoned political discourse which ensures that government policy choices are sensitive to the needs and concerns of a broad range of citizens.”

His application to the court says the coalition, which is supported by 250,000 private-sector and public-sector union members, exists “to make voters aware of policies that threaten the well-being of working families across Ontario.

“Its supporters include a broad and diverse range of interests and backgrounds ranging from teachers to nurses to auto and construction workers,” Cavalluzzo wrote.

Participating unions are: Unifor; the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation; the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association; the Ontario Nurses’ Association; and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, among others.

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.

The Tories’ Brown was especially pleased with the restrictions on the third-party advertising spending.

“It’s better for our democracy that the most powerful person is the voter now and not big financial interests,” the PC leader said the day the bill passed.

In the wake of a series of stories in the Star, Premier Kathleen Wynne banned union and corporate donations to political parties, outlawed MPPs and candidates from attending fundraisers, and lowered contribution limits from $9,975 per person to $1,200.

The new law also publicly subsidizes the four major political parties based on their vote tallies in the previous election.

Under the $2.71-per-vote subsidy, the Liberals, who received 1,863,974 votes in 2014, get $5.06 million annually; the Progressive Conservatives with 1,508,811 get $4.09 million; the New Democrats with 1,144,822 get $3.1 million; and the Greens with 232,536 get $630,000.