Top court finds Ontario spending limits on third-party election ads unconstitutional [Video]

The Supreme Court of Canada has found an Ontario law that limits spending on third-party election advertising violates the constitutional right to vote.

The country’s highest court dismissed the Ontario government’s appeal with a split 5-4 decision and struck down that part of the law.

Before 2021, third parties in Ontario could spend up to $600,000 on advertising in the six months before a provincial election call.

That year, Premier Doug Ford’s government stretched the restricted spending period to one year while keeping the spending limit the same.

The top court’s ruling said the spending limit law is so disproportionate that it allows political parties to “drown out” the voices of third parties.

“The statutory provisions create an absolute disproportionality in the broader political discourse that deprives voters of a broad range of views and perspectives on issues during a critical period in the democratic cycle,” said Friday’s decision, authored …