Unsolicited political texts, calls not breaking any laws, may influence some voters, prof says

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This article was published 29/09/2023 (709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many Manitoba voters have been on the receiving end of unsolicited texts and calls from candidates of various political stripes during the current provincial election campaign.

The often unwanted intrusion does not, however, violate federal and provincial legislation.

According to guidelines established by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, political entities are not beholden to anti-spam legislation. They do not need consent to call, text or email, and are not required to provide an avenue for recipients to unsubscribe.

“In Manitoba, it’s more of a modern phenomenon,” said Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, who described such messages as “a newer form of direct marketing,” akin to digital door-knocking.

While it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of the approach, Adams said it is likely comparable to similar tactics, such as advertising and sending mail-outs.

“I presume they’re testing these things and have confidence that whatever they’re texting out would have some sway with voters who might be undecided,” Adams said. “These things could be influential in reminding people there’s an election, on who they should be voting for and get to the polls,” he said.

“We could see more and more of this as we go further into future elections.”

Politicians of all levels have been employing the strategy for several years, including during the 2019 federal election and, more recently, by Winnipeg mayoral candidate Glen Murray during the 2022 civic election campaign.

Elections Manitoba provides voter information to provincial political parties, including names, addresses and phone numbers — although voters are not required to provide their phone number when registering, communications director Michael Ambrose said by email.

Voters wishing to opt out of receiving such messages should contact the party or candidate and ask to be put on their internal do-not-contact lists, he said.

It is also possible for political groups or third-party marketing agencies to purchase data caches that include voter contact information, although it is unclear whether any of Manitoba’s campaigning parties have adopted such an approach.

Text messages distributed by the Manitoba NDP this week asked voters to indicate their support for the party, while messages sent by the Progressive Conservative party directed recipients to Wabway.ca, a Tory attack website.

The site includes ads launched Wednesday depicting NDP Leader Wab Kinew as a “joker” and other party candidates as “wild cards” who intend to give away hard drugs, defund the police and intentionally mock the affordability crisis.

Upon reviewing the website, Duff Conacher, co-founder of the Ontario-based voter advocacy organization Democracy Watch, said the claims may violate Manitoba’s election legislation because the details presented are distorted.

“A half-truth is deceptive,” he said, adding if he lived in Manitoba he’d be filing a complaint over the ads under the provincial Elections Act.

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Ambrose could not confirm Friday whether Elections Manitoba had received any complaints regarding the attack ads, or others in which the party defends its decision not to search the landfill for human remains of Indigenous women believed to have been murdered by a suspected serial killer.

Elections Manitoba will include a report on complaints received during the election period in its annual report, he said.

“I presume that they’ve decided to hit hard because they need to shore up their support going into the election,” Adams said of the Tory advertisements. “But I suspect it’s a little bit too late to suddenly be rolling out the heavy-hitting advertisements in the middle of advance voting (which began last weekend and ends Saturday).”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com

Tyler Searle
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Since joining the paper in 2022, Tyler has found himself driving through blizzards, documenting protests and scouring the undersides of bridges for potential stories.

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Katie May
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Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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