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IntroductionDiscussion Paper 1: The Regulation of Political Communications under the Canada Elections Act

Political communications lie at the heart of the electoral process. Parties and candidates communicate with electors in many ways, including by telephone, canvassing, signs, broadcasts and print advertisements. Increasingly, communications occur by messages targeted to individual electors, including via social media.

Some aspects of the political communications of electoral participants in a federal election are regulated by the Canada Elections Act (CEA or the Act). The regulation of political communications is closely intertwined with the regulation of political financing more generally, and the two aspects of the law support many of the same objectives. Nonetheless, certain elements of the law specifically relate to political communications: those elements are the focus of this paper.

Much of the current regulation reflects that the law evolved in an era when broadcast advertising, especially on television, was central to an election campaign. Indeed, the roots of the political financing and political communications provisions in the CEA can be found in concerns over the rising costs of broadcasting in the 1960s and 1970s and the threats those rising costs posed to democratic values. Over the years, as the nature and methods of communicating and campaigning have evolved, the CEA has been amended to respond to such changes. Recent experience, however, suggests that fundamental questions should be asked about whether the current structure of the CEA is sufficient to continue to achieve its goals or whether it needs to be overhauled. Alternatively, it may be that the structure is sound but certain fundamental aspects need to be modernized.

The first part of this paper briefly summarizes the political communications provisions found in the CEA and the objectives of the various elements of regulation. The second part of the paper sets out challenges that have emerged in recent years and during the 2019 general election. It describes apparent weaknesses or areas of uncertain benefit and asks questions to seek input and foster discussion on the law's future.