A Battle Over Cash, Free Speech, and Election Fairness
The Supreme Court of Canada is poised to rule today on a fierce debate over Ontario’s election advertising rules—specifically, how much third parties can spend and when. Before 2021, groups like unions could pour $600,000 into ads during the six months leading up to an election call. That changed when Doug Ford’s government doubled the restricted period to a year, leaving the spending ceiling untouched.
The Progressive Conservatives sold it as a defense against outside election tampering, but critics slammed it as a gag order on free speech before the 2022 provincial vote. Teachers’ unions hauled the law to court, where it was struck down—prompting Ontario to whip out the notwithstanding clause in a new bill. That, too, got tangled in legal challenges.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled the clause itself was legit but found the law violated third parties’ free expression and voters’ rights to a meaningful election—rights beyond the clause’s reach. The province was given 12 months to rewrite the rules. Instead, Ontario’s attorney general escalated it to the Supreme Court, which took up the case in late 2023.
Back in 2014, under a no-limits Liberal policy, third parties unleashed $8.64 million—17% of all election spending. The union-backed Working Families Coalition alone spent $2.5 million, mostly on anti-Conservative ads. Now, that coalition and teachers’ unions are at the heart of this Supreme Court clash, with a chorus of interveners—from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to attorneys general of Canada, Alberta, and Quebec—adding their voices to the fray.