Provincial elections in British Columbia may look and sound more like advertising-laden American campaigns, now that B.C.'s Appeal Court has ruled the province can't restrict election spending in the 60 days leading up to the official election call.
On Wednesday, the B.C. Appeal Court panel upheld a lower court ruling that the government's legislation imposing such a limit is unconstitutional.
Seven unions, including the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the B.C. Nurses Union, launched a legal battle against Bill 42 shortly after the legislation was enacted in 2008.
Because of fixed election dates in B.C., the government had concerns there might be a spending "free-for-all" in the days preceding the campaign, and acted on recommendations of the B.C.'s chief electoral officer on election advertising.
The legislation limited third-party election advertising to $3,000 in a single district and $150,000 province-wide for two months before the May fixed election date.
Teachers' Federation President Susan Lambert said the court's decision is extremely important for freedom of speech.
"This was an outrageous attempt to stifle debate and leading up to an election period when citizens ought to be far more engaged," she said.
The province appealed the 2009 decision, claiming the limits were a minimal impairment to freedom of expression.
But the three-member appeal court panel disagreed, ruling that limiting advertising interferes with third-party advocacy, lobbying and advertising unrelated to the election.
"The effect of the ... legislation overshoots its overall objective of electoral fairness," Judge Catherine Ryan wrote.
Nurses Union President Debra McPherson said it's time for the provincial government to admit defeat on the legislation.
Ms. McPherson said the original law stopped her union from advertising during a period when the legislature was sitting and when the throne speech and budget were presented.
"They cannot stop us from reacting to decisions they're making in the legislature," she said.
Neither Ms. Lambert nor Ms. McPherson were worried that B.C. voters would get buried under an avalanche of negative U.S. election-style advertisements.
"We get a blizzard of ads about everything, every day, all the time, and we just tune some out and we pay attention to others as it interests us," Ms. McPherson said.
Ms. Lambert said Canada has many more safeguards in its Charter of Rights than the United States when it comes to slinging accusations during an election.
"What this (legislation) did is to stifle responsible debate."
Ms. Lambert said she would like to hear more advertisements leading up to the 2013 election and hopes it leads to more people going to the polls at a time when election turnouts are declining.
"What this decision says is we treasure our freedom of speech in this country, we must encourage freedom of speech, we must all be out there ... participating in public debate."
Just 51 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the 2009 provincial election.
The lower court struck down the law on March 30, 2009, just a few weeks before the official election call for the May 12, 2009 election.
Justice Frank Cole refused a stay of execution on the order, allowing third-party advertisers to spend what they wanted.