Premier Gary Doer rolled out Bill 37 last month, painting it as an important tool for protecting fair elections: The bill would fix election dates and remove that privilege from the premier. But Bill 37 would do much more than set election dates. It would, among other things, hand to the government the power to vet the routine political correspondence that elected members and parties send to Manitobans.
Members of the legislature now face few restrictions over their messages to Manitobans in taxpayer-paid mailings. The long-standing unwritten rule, as established by a legislative committee, allows a political free-for-all in the mailed material, as long as MLAs or the caucuses of parties do not solicit political donations or try to sign up members. Bill 37 would impose new "non-partisan" criteria on these political messages, with a government-dominated group of MLAs deciding what is and isn't "partisan." Until that group sets the criteria, the mailings would conform to rules governing the allowances MLAs are given to operate riding offices. They bar advertising material that seeks to influence voter support for any party as well as mentions of party affiliation.
The bill raises the spectre of a committee combing through MLAs' letters and flyers with a big black marker, obscuring passages in which the Progressive Conservatives, for example, tell voters to oppose the NDP's decision to send a new Manitoba Hydro transmission line down the west side of the province. MLA Kevin Lamoureux could not mention that he is a Liberal, nor remind investors in the failed Crocus fund that the NDP government has refused to call an inquiry into the fiasco, nor that they should remember that when they go to the polls. The practice of targeting a government riding is the real focus of this law. As Justice Minister Dave Chomiak noted in the house: "(W)e are trying to prevent partisan mailings into places being paid for by the government."
The Doer government says that very political stuff should be paid by the parties, through their own advertising budgets, which, not coincidentally, Mr. Doer conveniently limited in 2001 to $50,000 annually. Even the $75,000 that Bill 37 now proposes as an annual limit barely scratches the amount spent each year on direct mailings out of the legislature.
The new rules would raise the spectre of a small group of select politicians censoring every letter an MLA or a caucus wishes to send to Manitobans, something none of the government's own propaganda is ever subjected to.
Like any party in power, the Doer administration gets to ride above such rules. Its virtues are extolled with every press release issued by the "news media services" branch. Indeed, it was the heft of that robust machinery that Mr. Doer himself used to extoll the virtues of Bill 37 as law that will ensure elections are fair and democracy in Manitoba remains strong. As each day passes, it is becoming clearer that what the premier didn't say about Bill 37 is what Manitobans ought to scrutinize in defence of democracy.
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