A Private Member's Bill

A number of recent polls showed that an overwhelming number of Canadians were offended by the attack ads taken out by the Conservative Party. Those polled indicated that our democratic process doesn’t benefit from such attack ads.. Attacks ads that were only made possible because their are no limits on advertising expenditure by political parties during the “pre-writ” period. If we have spending limits during an election, then why not have spending limits prior to elections, given election timing is at the whim of the party in office, as recently demonstrated by Stephen Harper, his fixed election promise notwithstanding?

Therefore to better perfect our democracy, a private members bill should be introduced immediately in the new session of Parliament that would prohibit any advertising be political parties during the period between elections. Political parties get no end to their “free advertising” by the press over the time between elections. As such, there should be no need for paid advertising. I for one, don’t want our political process to be determined by the party with the deepest pockets. If that were the case, then why do we have spending limits DURING elections, only to have them rendered less effective, by having no spending limits BETWEEN elections?

The political moon and stars are presently aligned in such a way that such a private members bill could pass. Who amongst the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc would object? Jack Layton? Gilles Duceppe? Who knows, maybe Stephane Dion could introduce the private member’s bill himself? It could be his lasting legacy for decorum in Canadian political life.