Ontario's Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa is calling for the proposed elections financing legislation on third-party advertising to be strengthened — and suggested Ontario take a page from U.S. law on Super PACs.

Essensa was the first witness to testify at the general government committee about Bill 201, the election finances statute law amendment act. He delivered an hour-long presentation and then took questions from the committee Monday afternoon.

Essensa told the committee he's declined to make policy recommendations in the past, but said it's his role to do so when he has "undisputed evidence that something is outdated or that the level playing field (of Ontario elections) is in danger of being distorted." The "troublesome" state of third-party advertising is why he's speaking out now, he said.

Essensa walked the committee through how third-party advertising spending has shot up over the years to $8.64 million in the 2014 provincial election, with one advertiser spending nearly $2.5 million. (It was Working Families.) He recommended the new election financing legislation include contribution limits for third-party advertisers, reporting by third-party advertisers between elections and, in particular, stronger anti-collusion measures.

According to Essensa, the anti-collusion measures currently in the bill will make it very difficult to prove there has actually been collusion.

"A candidate may be tempted to co-ordinate his or her activities with a sympathetic third party advertiser in order to circumvent contribution and spending limits," he said, but noted that under the legislation that is only prevented when it's proven that a third-party ad was controlled by the candidate or party.

"I will leave it to lawyers to tell you how hard it is to prove there is direct evidence of this sort of control," he said.

Weak anti-collusion measure undermines confidence in the electoral process, he said. "The public can plainly see that candidates, and organizations that claim to be non-partisan, are able to actively co-ordinate their advertising. They are not prohibited from doing so because neither is exercising direct control over the other."

Essensa recommended the province design a law, such as the U.S. law concerning Political Action Committees (PACs), to prohibit co-ordination between parties and third parties, including through the work of former political staff, officials and consultants.

"This sort of co-ordination is especially troubling when an organization relies on former political staff or partisan strategists to shape a third party's advertising," Essensa said. "This public sees this as an apparent conflict of interest. I do, too."

Essensa also said he is concerned that third-party advertising isn't regulated throughout the whole period between elections. He would like to see third parties report their spending and contributions at all times, when their advertising depicts parties or their leaders. However, he suggested there be no limits on advertising on issues connected to candidates or parties outside of election periods.

After listening to debate in the legislature, Essensa asked for clearer distinction of whether or not government-sponsored advertising would be treated as political advertising under the act.

Essensa looked at the contribution limits proposed in the legislation. He found it would not significantly limit what most donors give to parties and candidates, but would limit the "disproportionate amount that some individuals were able to donate in comparison to their fellow citizens."

On spending limits, he called on research/polling and travel to be subject to specific limits, as it is in federal elections.

On Tuesday afternoon, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will testify before the committee, followed by experts chosen by the two opposition parties on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.

Earlier Monday, the Ontario NDP took a page from its federal counterpart and asked the government to forgo its majority in the committee overseeing election fundraising reform. But unlike in Ottawa, the provincial NDP was denied its request.

New Democrat MPP Gilles Bisson proposed a motion asking the House for unanimous consent to establish a "Select Committee on Elections" to study the current effectiveness of the Election Finances and Taxation Act. The proposed committee was to be made up of four Liberal MPPs, three PC MPPs, two NDP MPPs and one Green Party representative, in order to reflect the popular vote and ensure that changes to the legislation would require the support of at least two parties.

"Will the Premier of Ontario follow the prime minister's lead and agree not to use a parliamentary majority to ram through changes to how Ontario's democracy is funded?" Horwath had asked in question period Monday morning.

Last week, federal Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef agreed to the demand from the federal NDP to make the membership of the committee studying electoral reform better represent each party's share of the popular vote, which forgoes the Liberal's majority.

Chief Electoral Officer calls for tighter anti-collusion rules on third-party advertising

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