Murray Campbell, in Saturday's Globe & Mail, reported that now fixed election dates are the law, the Ontario parties are launching "a year of non-stop campaigning.... with the same drawn-out precision that is standard in the United States." And of course there are no laws to govern election spending before the 30-day "official" campaign period starts.
Remember how fixed election dates were sold to us as a democratic reform? Why is it every alleged reform we are offered somehow entrenches the power of political parties and money even deeper.
The best thing about Canadian elections was you could count on there being only 30 days of all that manic travel, phony media events, and leakings of fake polls. Now we will get it endlessly. And we are told it's an improvement. Thanks, democracy wonks.
