How Ontario’s election-advertising rules will change the political landscape

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Political ads have suddenly come out of the woodwork in the few days since Ontario Premier Doug Ford invoked the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to usher in new restrictions on third-party election advertising.

While the province doesn’t go to the polls until next June, ads from unions targeting the Progressive Conservative Premier have surfaced online and in print, including one from the Ontario Federation of Labour featuring a grinning caricature of Mr. Ford and calling his government “a disaster.” Newspaper ads from the Ontario Nurses Association called the new legislation “an intimidation tactic to shield the government from criticism and accountability.”

Ontario overrides Charter to pass legislation to limit election advertising

These ads, and all other political messages produced by unions, interest groups or corporations, will have to comply with the restrictions in Ontario’s new 12-month precampaign period, already under way. It limits third-party political advertisers to the same $600,000 budget as the six-month precampaign period under the previous legislation. (A $100,000 limit for third-party groups during the 28-day campaign before the June 2 vote remains.)

It was Ontario’s first use of the clause, which allows a government to override certain sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A judge had deemed the 12-month restricted period an unconstitutional violation of free speech.

While critics say Mr. Ford’s limits are designed to curb the unions that have dominated third-party political advertising in Ontario, the new rules also appear to be discouraging potential government allies. Two of the biggest non-union spenders from the 2018 campaign may be bowing out of the next one.

Ontario Proud, the right-wing Facebook viral meme-maker that relentlessly targeted Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne, spent nearly $450,000 raised mostly from real estate developers, including $375,000 in what was then a six-month restricted period.

A source familiar with the group’s deliberations said it is undecided about whether to register this time as a political advertiser and has no current plans to do so. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source as they were not authorized to speak publicly. Ontario Proud founder Jeff Ballingall declined to comment.

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) – a leading spender in 2018, and headed by former Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak – is also staying on the sidelines, citing the spending crackdown.

“The whole concept, the notion [of the new rules], made us think twice and decide not to enter the debate in the same way this year,” Mr. Hudak said in an interview, noting the Ford government had also taken up many of the policies OREA advocated, such as speeding approvals to get more housing built. He said all parties had been receptive to his group’s messages.

OREA spent just over $100,000 before the 2018 vote. Its video ad showed a young couple who see their dream to buy a home shattered, with a quick shot of a notepad with “land transfer tax” written on it. The ad didn’t single out a candidate or explicitly support Mr. Ford.

BIG SPENDERS

The top 10 third-party political advertisers in the six months before Ontario’s 2018 official election campaign by amount spent, according to Elections Ontario data.

Ontario Working Women

$580,282.00

(Service Employees International Union Local 1

Canada, healthcare workers union)

Better Change for Ontario

$568,173.68

(United Steelworkers Canada)

The Ontario Medical Association

$512,058.80

Ontario Proud

$375,248.24

(Funded by large real estate developers and

construction companies)

Ontario Korean Businessmen’s Association

$363,382.00

(Funded by Imperial Tobacco Canada, Japan Tobacco

and Rothmans Benson & Hedges)

Working Families

$262,500.00

(More than 60 different unions or union locals)

Unifor

$152,613.23

Police Association of Ontario

$111,167.27

Ontario Real Estate Association

$105,011.38

Association of Municipalities of Ontario

$65,856.28

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:

ELECTIONS ONTARIO

BIG SPENDERS

The top 10 third-party political advertisers in the six months before Ontario’s 2018 official election campaign by amount spent, according to Elections Ontario data.

Ontario Working Women

$580,282.00

(Service Employees International Union Local 1 Canada,

healthcare workers union)

Better Change for Ontario

$568,173.68

(United Steelworkers Canada)

The Ontario Medical Association

$512,058.80

Ontario Proud

$375,248.24

(Funded by large real estate developers and construction companies)

Ontario Korean Businessmen’s Association

$363,382.00

(Funded by Imperial Tobacco Canada, Japan Tobacco and

Rothmans Benson & Hedges)

Working Families

$262,500.00

(More than 60 different unions or union locals)

Unifor

$152,613.23

Police Association of Ontario

$111,167.27

Ontario Real Estate Association

$105,011.38

Association of Municipalities of Ontario

$65,856.28

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ELECTIONS ONTARIO

BIG SPENDERS

The top 10 third-party political advertisers in the six months before Ontario’s 2018 official election campaign by amount spent, according to Elections Ontario data.

Ontario Working Women

$580,282.00

(Service Employees International Union Local 1 Canada, healthcare workers union)

Better Change for Ontario

$568,173.68

(United Steelworkers Canada)

The Ontario Medical Association

$512,058.80

Ontario Proud

$375,248.24

(Funded by large real estate developers and construction companies)

Ontario Korean Businessmen’s Association

$363,382.00

(Funded by Imperial Tobacco Canada, Japan Tobacco and Rothmans Benson & Hedges)

Working Families

$262,500.00

(More than 60 different unions or union locals)

Unifor

$152,613.23

Police Association of Ontario

$111,167.27

Ontario Real Estate Association

$105,011.38

Association of Municipalities of Ontario

$65,856.28

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ELECTIONS ONTARIO

It’s a far cry from the ads Mr. Hudak faced as PC leader in 2014. He was targeted in a TV campaign from the union-funded Working Families Ontario, which highlighted his pledge to lay off 100,000 public sector workers and portrayed him as doing the bidding of cigar-smoking Bay Street suits.

“If you spend enough money and throw enough mud at any individual or political party, I mean, you can make Mother Teresa look questionable,” Mr. Hudak said.

It was Working Families that challenged Mr. Ford’s new election law in court. Working Families and unions say Mr. Ford is trying to silence their members, while doubling the province’s individual political donation limits to $3,300 a year and allowing his PCs to rake in more cash from wealthy backers.

“Ford [is] just restricting opposition voices from people who don’t have the money to get their messages and their voices out in another way,” said Sharleen Stewart, Canadian president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare, the top third-party spender in the 2018 campaign. Her union acts for thousands of nurses and personal support workers on the front-lines in Ontario’s long-term care homes, where 3,794 residents and staff have died of COVID-19.

Union spending on slick attack ads in an unregulated landscape prompted the previous Liberal government to enact a six-month restricted period, which came into effect for 2018.

But Mr. Ford and his MPPs, in defending the 12-month limit – which is far longer than in any comparable Canadian legislation – rarely mention unions, instead invoking the influence of the superrich on U.S. elections.

“No one I’ve talked to wants U.S.-style politics, no one wants billionaires trying to influence elections and buy up all the ad space,” Mr. Ford said this week. “No one wants big corporations that are making tons of money trying to influence elections.”

Before the 2018 vote, 11 of the top 20 spenders were unions or related groups. But the top spenders also included the Ontario Medical Association, the Police Association of Ontario and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. The Ontario Korean Businessmen’s Association, which represents corner-store owners, placed fifth, spending nearly $365,000 – provided by tobacco companies – for a campaign that included ads calling for lower cigarette taxes.

The debate in the U.S. and elsewhere has largely focused on concerns that large corporations or the wealthy could buy elections. But the Ontario NDP calls Mr. Ford’s new rules a violation of free speech and a crackdown on its union allies. (As a registered political party, the NDP is not subject to them.) It also released campaign-style spots this week, including an attack ad targeting not Mr. Ford but Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca. NDP campaign director Michael Balagus said the party intends to spend $700,000 to $1-million on ads over the next month.

The idea behind limits on third-party advertising is to ensure that parties and candidates are not drowned out. But Robert MacDermid, an expert on election finance rules and a professor emeritus of political science at York University, said regulating third-party ads before a campaign is too large an intrusion on freedom of speech.

The new rules, he said, impose onerous financial reporting requirements for an entire year on even small community groups that want to speak on issues. He said only the formal campaign period should have strict spending limits.

“It’s really hard to do this in the precampaign period, and we shouldn’t even try,” Dr. MacDermid said. “People should be allowed to speak. … Commercial speech is free, so political speech is free. It’s all a big jumble. I just don’t see any other way we can deal with it, in a democracy.”

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