Today, Bill Walker, MPP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, repeated his call for Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne to take a stand on limiting third-party advertising during elections.
"Despite making repeated promises to do this, the Premier today continues to break her own pledge to bring forward real reforms and put spending limits on third party advertising during election periods," MPP Walker said during Question Period.
The province's Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa has repeatedly called for capping advertising by special interest groups, warning that the lack of regulation creates an uneven playing field that can potentially influence electoral outcomes. Essensa noted that Ontario remains the only province without spending limits, as Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and the federal government have all adopted controlsover third-party advertising.
"This is about fairness, the ability for everyone to be able to participate equally, and this is why we have long argued that the government needs to clean up election advertising laws in Ontario," he said. "It's unacceptable that the Premier and this government continue to disregard reforms that would actually serve in the best interest of the Ontario public, and ensure that everyone is treated fairly and equally and that we honour democracy."
MPP Walker added that the Ontario PC Party has over the years introduced three separate pieces of legislation to cap advertising spending, but none has received the support of the Liberal government.
