NDP Leader Calls for Pre-Election Ad Black Out

Who would have thought banning interest groups and political parties from running ads would be a politically unpopular move?

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has called for serious pre-campaign reforms including a black out on all ads before the election officially begins September 7th. Interest groups and political parties alike would be banned from running ads until the start of the four week campaign period. Horwath told the Rotary Club at the Royal York Hotel that increasingly negative campaigning was causing voters to be disengaged and instead proposed three live debates between candidates on health care, economics, and energy policy. She also advocated for a US-style requirement that candidates identify their stance at the start of every political ad. Pat Dillon, spokesperson for Working Families and manager of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, called her proposal “insane,” “100% wrong” and “undemocratic.”