Big third-party election ad spenders

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First in Queen’s Park Observer — THIRD-PARTY AD SPENDERS, RANKED: The Ford government’s third-party election advertising limits are again in front of the courts, with Democracy Watch arguing the move is unconstitutional.

The new law — for which the PCs invoked the notwithstanding clause after an earlier challenge — means third parties like unions, PACs and advocacy groups now have to stretch $637,200 over 12 months instead of six for pre-campaign election ads.

Democracy Watch, which is battling it out in court this week alongside the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, says that allows a wealthy individual voter, or a private corporation with only a few shareholders, to spend the same amount on issue ads as a citizen group with tens of thousands of voters. “That’s not democratic — individual voters and private corporations should have a much lower spending limit than broad-based citizen groups. Also, the Ford governme…