Referendum commissioner clarifies advertising rules for parties, candidates

P.E.I.'s referendum commissioner met with representatives from Island political parties two days before the start of the province's referendum period to hash out how restrictions on referendum advertising will affect Island politicians.

Under the province's Referendum Act, anyone who is not a registered referendum advertiser is limited to spending a maximum of $1,000 on advertising, a limit that also applies to political parties.

Jordan Bober, director of development and election readiness for the Green Party, said the Jan. 30 meeting with the commissioner was "to seek consensus on areas that the act leaves a bit vague."

Referendum Commissioner Gerard Mitchell developed a series of guidelines for parties as a result of the meeting.

Verbal opinions are free

Among the issues clarified in the guidelines: candidates "will be free to offer their verbal opinions about the referendum options when speaking with constituents."

However, opinions expressed in brochures, online or at public events have the potential to get candidates in trouble if the associated expenses would push the party over its $1,000 limit.

According to the guidelines, a brochure "can state the party's or candidate's position in the referendum," however "it can't really go into why the party supports one option or another, otherwise it would have to be considered as referendum advertising."

Mitchell has instructed parties to include links to the Referendum P.E.I. website in their materials, rather than provide details on why they support one electoral system over another.

The guidelines also clarify that parties and candidates can promote a referendum option on social media, but if the party pays to promote that post on people's feeds that money would also count against the party's $1,000 spending limit.

'Disguised as a political rally'

The commissioner also warned that if party staff are paid to manage social media content a portion of their salaries would also become a referendum expense unless they were volunteering their time to provide that service.

The commissioner also said candidates can speak about the referendum at rallies or party events. However, "if the rally turns out to be primarily a referendum-related rally disguised as a political rally, all of the costs associated with organizing that rally would be considered referendum advertising."

One thing the guidelines don't address is referendum spending limits for individual candidates. Mitchell told CBC each candidate is also entitled to spend his or her own $1,000 on referendum advertising, but the money has to come out of their own pocket — it can't come from the party.

Charter question?

"I think there's been an ongoing question as to whether the legislation actually fits the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it comes to freedom of expression and opinion," said NDP Leader Joe Byrne, who represented his party at the meeting with the commissioner.

"The restrictions and penalties that are there are prohibitive. It's raised that kind of a question in people that want to campaign. They have to be concerned about the fines and penalties that are there."

Island residents or political parties who are found to have exceeded spending limits face a maximum fine of $10,000 plus whatever amount they exceeded the limit by.

By comparison, under P.E.I.'s Election Expenses Act, political parties who exceed the overall election spending limit face a maximum fine of just $1,000.

The overall election spending limit for parties in the coming campaign is expected to top $1.2 million.

Prince Edward Islanders will vote in a referendum on election day. They'll be asked whether the province should switch to a mixed-member proportional system for electing MLAs.

In a mixed-member proportional system ballots would have two sections.

On the first part of their ballot, Islanders would vote for a candidate in their local district as they do now, and the results would be tabulated in each district using first-past-the-post. Eighteen seats would be decided that way in 18 individual districts.

The second part of the ballot would include lists of up to ten candidates for each party, with voters asked to vote for a single list candidate.

Two groups have been designated as official referendum advertisers, each group provided with $75,000 in government funding for their campaigns for or against changing P.E.I.'s electoral system.

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