"Outrageous! – Former Environment Commissioner Tackles Elections Canada | Elections Canada 2019

It is absolutely scandalous. This is wrong in law, it hurts this election and public confidence, dropped Dianne Saxe at the microphone of the radio show Metro Morning CBC.

Ms. Saxe wants Elections Canada to clarify her position immediately. The warning is already confusing and silencing environmental groups, she said.

An official of Elections Canada would have justified this opinion by the fact that the leader of the People's Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier, doubted the veracity of the climatic changes. Therefore, any group mentioning the urgency of fighting climate change could be considered partisan, even if it does not mention Mr. Bernier.

Elections Canada stated that the warning only applied to activities or announcements that specifically identify a candidate or party and that cost $ 500 or more.

Bad interpretation of the law?

Ms. Saxe, who heads a consulting firm called Saxe Facts, said the Canada Elections Act clearly states what is partisan and what is not.

Being partisan means supporting or opposing particular parties or candidates. By definition, it's not about talking about problems, she said.

Elections Canada is clearly wrong in telling groups that talking about climate is partisan.

<q data-attributes = "{" lang ": {" value ":" fr "," label ":" French "}," value ": {" html ":" This is Elections Canada's job of ensure that we have fair and trustworthy elections so that people can see the government as legitimate, adds Ms.Saxony, and what they are doing now is absolutely opposed to that. "," Text ":" It is the job of Elections Canada to ensure we have fair and trustworthy elections so that people can consider the government as legitimate, adds Mrs.Saxe, and what they do now is absolutely opposed to that. "}}" lang = "en">It is the job of Elections Canada to ensure that we have fair and trustworthy elections so that people can see the government as legitimate, says Saxe, and what they are doing now is absolutely opposed to that. .

No information

It's really dangerous, even beyond this election, because it erases the difference between facts and opinions at a time when truth, facts and science are being attacked everywhere. Everyone has the right to their own opinions. Nobody is entitled to his own facts, she says.

Warning means voters will not receive information action plan for climate people who have spent years studying the problem, she said. That means a lack of information on the crisis in which we find ourselveswarns Dianne Saxe.

This weakens this absolutely critical difference between what is true and what is opinion. We do not have the means to do it.

And the Canada Elections Act sets out a very clear line of demarcation, and Elections Canada has just erased that line. That's why it's bad, harmful and dangerous.

A question of transparency

In an update on Tuesday, the Chief Electoral Officer clarified that the law does not prevent anyone from talking about specific issues or publishing information.

Stéphane Perrault however specifies that if a group or a person spends $ 500 or more for a thematic advertisement on a stake clearly related to a candidate or a party during an election period, he must register with Elections
Canada.

The Act does not address the substance of potential thematic advertisements of third parties, nor does it distinguish between facts and opinions. It is not Elections Canada's role to make this distinction, even though it
may seem obvious.

A cap of just over $ 500,000 applies to certain activities. However, the thematic advertising provisions do not apply to websites, e-mails, text messages, media interviews or door-to-door activities.

Mr. Perrault pointed out that these provisions have been in effect for almost 20 years.

With the information from CBC and La Canadian Press