In 2005, the Ontario government adopted a fixed election date for provincial elections. Voters will head to the polls June 2 and while the election writs have not been issued, the campaigning for the upcoming election has begun. Fixed election dates were put in place to provide certainty for scheduling and to stop the guessing game of when a government will go to the polls.
Municipalities in Ontario have followed a similar fixed election date system for over a century. In addition to fixed election dates, municipal politicians have one limit that should be adopted at the provincial level – lame duck rules.
During the period of time between the close of municipal nominations and the election day itself, elected municipal officials’ powers are limited. Except in the case of a declared emergency, councils cannot make large spending or borrowing decisions, sell assets, or approve hiring/firing decisions unless this was agreed by council in an approved budget. It limits the ability for elected officials to use their power at the council table to influence or campaign for re-election. These rules should be applied to provincial and even federal elections.
For over a month, the Ford government has made daily announcements for new funding commitments and new programs for Ontario. Many of these announcements are dependent on the re-election of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario to another term as there is not enough time between those announcements and the June 2 election to pass the legislation needed to make those commitments law. That is not governance, it is campaigning and using the incumbent elected position to an unfair political advantage.
There are already laws in place governing advertising – including the use of Government of Ontario ads for campaign-style electioneering ads – but that does not cover the news cycle.
Instead provincial election laws should be reformed to impose a “best-before” fixed date where provincial elected officials are no longer – except in emergency cases – able to make large spending or borrowing decisions, or tie the government to decisions that were not in already passed legislation. That period should be three months before the fixed election date. While this potentially will make the budget leading up to any election a Smörgåsbord of goodies for voters, it also binds the government by legislation to commitments made. Legally that will infuse the responsibility to follow through on promises made.
Elections should be free and fair for all parties to compete in. Going into an election, a governing party already has the advantage of incumbency. Governing parties – no matter which party is in power – should not have the ability to use provincial resources to skew the election tables more in their favour. Lame Duck laws will go a long way to rectifying that imbalance. What’s good for municipal geese, is good for provincial ganders.
