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September 29, 2008

Anthony Rota’s controversial ad

Why is it controversial? The ad was published in the North Bay Nugget on September 23rd, 2008 (during the writ period) and it doesn’t appear to contain the words “approved by the official agent for Anthony Rota”. If my eyes do not deceive me, this would be in contravention of s.320 and s.321 of the Elections Act.

Those sections are,

320. A candidate or registered party, or a person acting on their behalf, who causes election advertising to be conducted shall mention in or on the message that its transmission was authorized by the official agent of the candidate or by the registered agent of the party, as the case may be.

321. (1) No person shall knowingly conduct election advertising or cause it to be conducted using a means of transmission of the Government of Canada.

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), a person includes a group within the meaning of Part 17.

This appears to be an ad authorized by Anthony Rota as an MP. If that’s the case, he’s advertising himself (he’s now a candidate) using his MP office.

UPDATE: Rota’s campaign explains that the ads were bought prior to the writ drop. According to them, this makes it legal. Since Rota couldn’t have known when the writ period was going to be, this is an understandable oversight. However, according to my reading of the law, the act is clear on these two sections. Rota should have cancelled the ads. I wouldn’t accuse Rota of cheating because of this. Instead, I’d chalk it up to an unfortunate coincidence that could be interpreted as a violation of the Act.

Elections Canada disagrees and claims that the content doesn’t appear to be election advertising. Then again, Elections Canada is quite a subjective arbiter on what constitutes election advertising and in who’s name elections advertising is done (MP/candidate and federal/local). I suppose the Prime Minister now has the green light to circumvent the spending limit by buying the back page of every single paper in the country (with taxpayer money, natch) to say “Hi, I’m the PM” and as long as he doesn’t say “Vote for me, I’m the PM”, it’s all good.

This entry was authored by Stephen Taylor at 09:46 AM | Tweet this | Add a comment
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  • Anon
    Well, from what I understand and personal experience, these people can behave scummy like anyone else. In fact, I've sent one of the close family members over to collection recently because he didn't believe in keeping agreements or standing by his word. We all have to understand that politicians are inherently greedy, power hungry and self-centred and will therefore do quite literally anything to get what they think they deserve. It must be an inbred character flaw as it generally spans siblings. Rota's ad in the paper is just another example of twisting the rules to suit an end goal. Legally, he may or may not have contravened the acts, however ethically it appears it was most definitely contravened and a lack of ethics is the root of these problems. Unfortunately "it's" back in office and apples fallen from the same tree are generally similar in "taste" even if not so in appearance.
  • Orange
    Admittedly, I'm a partisan, and by no means a Liberal. That said, how hard would it have been for Rota to just admit he should have pulled the ad, an administrative error, will pay back the cost, etc.. yadda yadda. Acting like a wounded animal and lashing out about Harper's fixed election date just makes him look scared. The polls are not in Liberal favour, and this riding could be a real barometer of what's happening nationally. Most people from NB would say that Rota is a decent guy, even if they don't agree with his politics, so not sure how the polls will go.

    Rota and Sinicrope got into a good scrap on this tonight at the all-candidates debate. Seems that the verdict is still out on whether this is was legal, and any consequences. Knowing both candidates, they've probably lawyered up, so you can bet we haven't heard the last. Stay tuned.
  • anoninon
    Check this out:
    Rota had a few ads convenienly placed. A local web-news site was involved as well.

    http://nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1226217
  • Crystal
    Liberal Garth Turner seems to be doing the same kind of thing in Halton:

    http://www.haltoncompass.com/page05.html
  • Halton Compass Reader
    http://repossessinghalton.blogspot.com has got all the dirt as well. Some of Garths gang online are saying its nothing but a smear but still... its an ad running during an election. Its wrong.
  • anoninon
    This is my riding. Although technically Rota will be able to get away with not violating EC regulations, he is definitely taking advantage of the soft media, and sleepy nature of the local electorate. One wonders why the Nugget didn't question the ethics of printing that during the election.Our athletes will still be here after Oct. 14.
    ...well no we really don't have to wonder.
    Rota 'proudly' brought Bob Rae to the city a few weeks ago. He really should have made Rae apologise to the families in our city that have no doctor.
  • This will dominate the CBC election coverage for a solid week. Oh - did you say Liberal candidate? Nothing to see here....
  • With due respect, I sincerely doubt that this constitutes political advertising. Perhaps it ought to, but under the current regime it almost certainly doesn't. If it did, all of the Conservative Party non-incumbent mailings would also be advertising, as would the benches all over Winnipeg with Rod Bruinooge's name and face on them (paid for out of his constituency budget), as would anything with a candidate's name on it.
  • East of Eden
    Actually, Devin, all MPs have a budget for those mailings and can send them out provided we are not in election mode. No matter the party, those mailings are within policy guidelines. Anything after the writ is dropped must come from the party's finances and not the taxpayer-provided funds.
  • Ted
    When was the ad bought? That is the critical question you don't bother to ask, no surprise. Not when it was published.
  • So, Stephen Harper could buy a 4 page spread in the Toronto Star to say thanks to our Olympic athletes in his capacity as PM, paid for with taxpayer dollars. As long as he buys before the writ period even though he schedules it for running during one, that's ok?

    Rota should have cancelled the ad when the writ dropped. But it's an understandable oversight.
  • Ted
    Cheap shots, Stephen. Must be an election going on.

    No - it is not as simplistic as you try to spin it. If he has been doing this for years at the same time of year and it mentions nothing about really anything political, how can you honestly say that this is "election advertising" because it is only "election advertising" that is not allowed.

    As for the spin you give on Harper: he did it throughout August and the first week of September with sudden "policy announcements", a raft of advertisements for new government programs, all on the public dime, not to mention the very clearly permitted party advertising.

    I'd say nice try, but this is weak, even for you.
  • Ad doesn't violate law - Elections Canada

    http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1224620
  • Rota responds - Rota sets the record straight on opponent's false accusations.

    I would be very happy to see Rota unseated, but I'm not sure if this is going to do it.
  • He's thanking them for "co-operation"? what does that mean?
  • LIBERAL CANDIDATE ROTA SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON OPPONENT’S FALSE ACCUSATIONS

    For Immediate Release September 29, 2008

    Earlier today my political opponent sent out a media release alleging that I took out an advertisement in the North Bay Nugget which was ‘in clear breach of federal election laws’. Unfortunately, Mr. Sinicrope made this allegation without proper information, and in complete disregard of the facts.

    First of all, the order for the one-third page ad, which appeared on the front page of the Boys and Girls of Summer advertising feature on Tuesday, September 23rd, was in fact placed with the North Bay Nugget on September 2nd, prior to commencement of the current federal election campaign.

    This is a standing order, as I have placed the exact same ad each of the last four years, in my capacity as the Member of Parliament for Nipissing-Timiskaming. It is worth noting that the decision to run the ad was made prior to Stephen Harper’s decision to violate his own fixed-election law which would have otherwise seen Canadians head to the polls in October 2009.

    Furthermore, although Mr. Sinicrope states that this ad violates Sections 320 and 321 of the Canada Elections Act, a review of these two rules (as well as Section 319 entitled “Election Advertising”) with Elections Canada officials has clearly established that the ad in question in no way violates the legal guidelines. The ad does not promote or oppose a registered party or the election of a candidate, nor does it take a position on an issue with which a registered party or candidate is associated.

    It is regrettable that my Tory opponent has chosen to criticize an advertisement that was published in order to congratulate North Bay’s athletes, parents, and coaches who made this past summer’s sporting season such a successful one.

    - 30 -
  • East of Eden
    Unfortunately, he has a point about the fixed election dates. I think that this will haunt the Harper government for a while. Personally, I would have preferred waiting to see how the opposition behaved in the fall session before calling for an election but, I'm sure that our PM had his reasons. He's not given to emotional outbursts or temper and he does think things through so I'm sure he had a very compelling reason or set of reasons.
  • Liz J
    So, he's not running for any Party? He's a party of one, asking people to blindly vote for Anthony Rota, no Party ties? OR, he's ashamed to be associated with Dion and the Liberals? I'd call that gutless politics when you can't stand up for the Party whose funding you're running with.
  • Anon
    The last one you caught I agreed with. But this one I think is a little more innocent. One, it is not an election ad, it is the typical "Your MP blah blah" ad congratulating some group. The ad was likely purchased by his Hill office weeks ago, prior to the writ drop, and forgotten. A technical breach of the Act? Probably. But one I think that could be resolved by an admission of the error and a commitment that action had been taken to insure all other similar ads had been cancelled.
  • anon
    BTW, Stephen, In my riding of St. Paul's I have seen several Jack Layton signs, including a large one on a grassy hill right beside Carolyn Bennett's constituency office. Anyone who lives in the riding and hasn't seen it, go check it out! It isn't a sign for NDP candidate Anita Agrawal, these are Jack Layton signs, the ones that are run in his own riding. As well, there's a Layton sign along Mount Pleasant Rd., on cemetery property, which I believe is owned and run by the city gov't... Is it even legal for the NDP to be doing any of these things?
  • Jooge
    In my riding the same NDP guy who ran provinicially is now running federally. H eis using his provincial signs - how is that counted from an election spending standpoint. Does election spending cover transferred property?
  • comfyfur
    The NDP has two signs on city park property near me in St. Paul's. A Jack Layton sign is on the fence of Garrison Creek Park, as well as a candidate sign on the corner of Hillcrest Park. I'd complain except my city councillor is a Millerite. Don't think it would do much good.

    Carolyn Bennet, the Liberal candidate, delivered her House of Commons newsletter a week and a half after the writ was dropped. Cheating comes naturally to lefties.
  • East of Eden
    Oh well, it was just a little oversight. Ooops. My office volunteers are just so enthusiastic - youth. Gotta love 'em. Hey, I'll get right on that one and take care of this silly little issue. Heh heh. Kids, gotta love 'em.
  • Robert
    This is an outrageous abuse of tax payers money and at the same time a clear breach of election finance law. Will Elections Canada look the other way because it is Liberal? Remains to be seen.
  • He seems to be congratulating some athletic group or something. Does that still count as election advertising?
  • If he had a full page ad congratulating some hobby group with his name in huge block letters with his picture and "your member of Parliament" would it count as an ad? Of course.

    Name and image recognition are valuable to a public figure seeking (re)-election.
  • anon
    The media will be all over this story, nailing this Tory candidate's ass to the wall.

    Oh, wait a second, he's a Liberal. Hmmm.

    Well then...

    Hey, how about them Buffalo Bills, eh?
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@Will_W_Stewart that's a dangerous question for someone in PR to ask!
Stephen Taylor - email@stephentaylor.ca
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.