Campaign Spending Caps

The conservative government launched a series of attack-ads aimed at Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. They began airing Monday morning and will be featured on the February 4^th Super Bowl. These ads will obviously cost a hefty sum, but the conservatives can afford it, they're rich!

Now, here’s the catch: our New Conservative and Accountable Government (NCAG for short) passed the Federal Accountability Act, which includes a very strict cap on election campaign spending.

The logical conclusion to draw from that bold move is that the Liberals have historically had deeper pockets than the cons. Correct! But now, the roles are reversed. Stephen Harper is swimming in cash while the Liberals are still paying up their convention debt.

Now, let’s do a quick summary: Harper can afford these ads because he’s rich, but because of his accountability act, he won’t be able to spend as much on his campaign later.

Well you know what? That’s wrong. Harper can spend all he wants because the law doesn’t consider these negative ads to be campaign spending!

Sure, an election hasn’t been called yet, so it technically isn’t a campaign expenditure, but what’s the point of capping campaign spending it the richer parties can simply spend their money before it officially begins? This law exists to stop parties from buying elections, but if they are still allowed to spend an unlimited sum before the campaign officially begins, then it serves no purpose. It may actually a negative effect because richer parties have an incentive to spend their campaign money all year round, thus putting the country in a permanent election mode.