Election period advertising complaint dismissed

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This article was published 29/12/2022 (1313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba NDP complaint over partisan budget advertising by the provincial government during the Thompson byelection has been dismissed.

Commissioner of elections Bill Bowles determined the Progressive Conservative government did not violate the Elections Financing Act when it launched an advertising campaign for Budget 2022 ahead of the June byelection.

New Democrats took issue with the multimedia campaign, which promoted spending to clear the surgical and diagnostic backlog and other initiatives, and sent a complaint to the commissioner in May. The advertising campaign cost the government about $250,000.

The Election Financing Act contains restrictions on communications so government resources are not used to support an election campaign. It also outlines exceptions to the rule that allow for the continuation of government business.

Advertising exempt from the publication rules include messages that deal with matters before the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, including a budget. Advertising that is a continuation of earlier campaigns, and is in relation to the usual operation of government, is also exempt.

In the complaint, New Democratic Party secretary Tim Johnson argued a campaign “designed to persuade Manitobans about the importance of the government’s budget” should not qualify for the exception.

Johnson argued the basic principle underlying the restrictions is “government should not be able to use taxpayer money in the midst of an election or byelection to promote its partisan agenda in a way that is meant to influence Manitoba voters.”

In his decision from Dec. 16, Bowles wrote he agreed with Johnson regarding the “basic principle” underlying the legislation and prohibition on most advertising.

However, Bowles also noted the legislation is straightforward and permits any advertising about a budget, whether partisan or not.

“Interpreting the section as I do, implies that the government intended that it should be able to advertise about a budget in the election period of a byelection without any interference or review by the commissioner.”

The commissioner noted if government had intended to give his office “broad discretionary” powers to determine if an advertisement was partisan in nature, it would have “used express language, and might have set out guidelines or parameters within which that discretion was to be exercised.”

Bowles dismissed the complaint, saying there was no need to pursue the matter further.

NDP deputy house leader Mark Wasyliw said the Elections Financing Act would be reviewed if his party forms government in the next general election (in 2023). He said it’s impossible to know whether budget advertising gave the PCs an advantage in the Thompson byelection, which NDP candidate Eric Redhead won with 70 per cent of the vote.

“Even if the government writes a weak law that you could drive a Mack truck through the loopholes, doesn’t mean you should,” Wasyliw said. “A government should be doing better than that, even if the law allows them… Manitobans would expect that they would be better.

“There needs to be a review and a reassessment of why we even have these laws if they don’t do anything.”

The PC caucus said it respected the decision of the election commissioner.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca