NDP would ban ads before elections, make leaders endorse attack ads
Ontario’s New Democrats want to ban all political advertisements before elections and make leaders own up to negative ads if they choose to use them during the campaign.
“I’m seeing very clearly that there are a lot of attack ads, there’s a lot of influence that’s going around the legislature, and what ends up happening is the people’s voice gets lost,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Friday after a speech to the Rotary Club of Toronto.
“It’s rarely about the real issues.”
The party is proposing a blackout on all ads prior to the start of official campaigning, including those from interest groups. The NDP is also suggesting that leaders of political parties take responsibility for their own ads by recording an acknowledgment, in their own voice, indicating that they have approved the spot.
“If leaders think voters approve of these tactics, then they need to take ownership of it,” said Horwath. “They won’t be able to hide.”
As the province gears up for an Oct. 6 election, both the Tories and Liberals have attacked each other as well as the NDP, but Horwath has said she has no plans to “get in the sandbox” and join the negative campaigns.
Two non-political groups have also attacked the parties. There have been ads accusing the Liberals of wasting millions of dollars on what they called a “road to nowhere” in Windsor, paid for by the Canadian Transit Company, the Canadian wing of a business that owns the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor and Detroit.
The television ads claim that a new bridge will likely never be built, and building a road there is a waste of money.
The Progressive Conservatives have been targeted by the Working Families Coalition, a group that is backed by money from some of the province’s private and public unions.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has defended his government’s attempts to ban the Windsor ads while allowing those that criticize the Tories.