2017 Allocation of Paid Time

The Broadcasting Arbitrator

Suite 5300
Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower
Toronto, Ontario
M5K 1E6

Tel: 416-601-7620
Fax: 416-868-0673
Cell: 647-588-7620

Reasons for Decision

On April 6, 2017, I convened a meeting by conference call with all the registered parties. By the time of the call, the following three parties had been deregistered:

Canadian Action Party
Seniors Party of Canada
The Bridge Party of Canada

Accordingly, the number of registered parties was reduced from 19 to 16.

Under section 340 of the Canada Elections Act, the purpose of the meeting by conference call was to reallocate the broadcasting time given to the deregistered parties to the remaining 16 parties. At the same time, the call constituted the annual meeting required to be held under section 343 of the Act to "review the allocation."

Last year, after my original allocation decision was released on July 14, 2016, the following parties were deregistered:

Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency
United Party of Canada
Canada Party
Forces et Démocratie

In my reallocation decision of October 21, 2016, I took the total time allocated to the deregistered parties (34 minutes and 30 seconds), divided it into 30-second portions, and allocated that time equally to all the remaining parties, starting with the party with the smallest amount of time.

In the present case, since the meeting was intended to review the initial allocation as well as the reallocation of the time allocated to the three parties named above, I proposed to go back to my original 2016 calculations and apply the "one-half modified allocation approach" (also referred to as the "50/50 modified formula") again, but this time with only 16 parties receiving time instead of 23 parties.

Under the one-half modified allocation approach, one half of the available time is allocated equally among the registered parties. The remaining one half of the time is allocated on the basis of the statutory factors set out in section 338 of the Act. The resulting time is then rounded to the nearest half-minute.

Seven parties participated in the conference call on April 6, 2017. Five of these parties agreed with my proposed reallocation. The other two parties accepted the proposal but stated that they would have preferred that more than one half of the time be allocated equally to the registered parties. Having considered the matter, I have decided to adopt the proposal as set forth in the notice of March 20, 2017. The resulting allocation is set out in the appendix to the attached order.

In my decision of July 13, 2016, I referred to a 10-minute threshold as being the minimum amount of time that a party would need to make a meaningful case to the public. I am pleased to see that under this allocation all parties will exceed this threshold without having to rely on free time.

At the meeting, a number of parties expressed concern with the requirements imposed by certain broadcasters in regard to the free time provided to the parties. While I have no jurisdiction to address this matter directly, I will bring their concerns to the attention of the broadcasters.

Original signed by

Peter S. Grant
The Broadcasting Arbitrator
Toronto, April 13, 2017

The Broadcasting Arbitrator

Suite 5300
Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower
Toronto, Ontario
M5K 1E6

Tel: 416-601-7620
Fax: 416-868-0673
Cell: 647-588-7620