Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Conservative MPP Bill Walker is disappointed the Liberal party has rejected his call to keep free speech free in Ontario elections.
Walker says it was disheartening Thursday to see the Liberal government vote down his proposal for capping election spending on special-interest groups.
Walker’s bill, proposed a spending cap of $150,000 for each third-party group's partisan ads in an election.
He says the cap, which is also being advocated by the province’s elections watchdog, Greg Essensa, would remove the ability of special-interest groups to buy influence in elections.
It would also put Ontario's election laws in line with the rest of Canada.
"The principle of fairness is paramount and fundamental to engaging everyone in our democratic process," Walker says. "Today, I challenged the legislature to embrace that principle by ensuring our laws guarantee free, fair and transparent elections. Sadly, only members from the Liberal party chose not to give such guarantee but to stick to the status quo."
The status quo means money from special-interest groups will continue to dictate election outcomes, something Essensa has said needs to change. Essensa’s last two reports identified spending caps as one of his top priorities.
"Elections Ontario has found serious trouble brewing in our election process. Between 2007 and 2014, election spending by special-interest groups rose to $8.6-million, a jump of 400 per cent," Walker says. "At the same time, voter turnout has been falling steadily. The 2014 election saw a record-high number of spoiled ballots, 31,399 Ontarians declined their votes in the last election, the highest rejection since 1975."
"Subjecting voters' opinions via orchestrated multi-million-dollar attack campaigns from special interest groups is frankly an affront to fair and free elections," says Walker.