With Premier Doug Ford's announcement of an early provincial election in Ontario, businesses that engage or are planning to engage in the political process should be mindful of the rigorous third-party political advertising regime and contribution limits under the Ontario Election Finances Act EFA , as well as the lobbying and conflict of interest rules under the Ontario Lobbyists Registration Act LRA.
When a snap election is called, third-party spending limits apply between the date of the notice of election and the date on which voting ends Election Period. In particular, it includes "issue advertising," which may apply to a wide range of public policy issues closely associated with a political leader, candidate or party. According to guidance for third parties issued by Elections Ontario, "determining whether a given issue is 'closely associated' with a party, its leader, or a candidate will depend on which issues are likely to be addressed in the upcoming election campaign, or which are distinctly associated with a particular party, leader, or candidate in the public discourse.
As a result, third parties should carefully monitor public policy topics that political leaders, candidates and parties take a position on during the Election Period. Advertisements on public policy topics may initially not be caught by the EFA but be subsequently classified as issue advertising as the Election Period progresses.
The EFA sets out detailed criteria to help determine whether issue advertising is political advertising. Third parties may not circumvent or attempt to circumvent the maximum Election Period spending amount, including by splitting themselves into two or more third parties for this purpose or acting in collusion with another third party so that their combined Election Period amount exceeds the maximum amount.
These limits are not subject to the ongoing constitutional challenge. As we addressed in a previous Blakes Bulletin , the third-party advertising limits for a pre -election period i. The Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal of this decision in May The top court reserved judgment and has not, as of the date of this bulletin, released its decision.
