The unfairness and absurdity of one of the B.C. government's more controversial laws was on full display this past week, as the B.C. Government Employees Union was fined more than $3 million for having the temerity to advertise during the by-election campaigns last March.
Governments love to control communications whenever possible and this government in particular has a fondness for that kind of behaviour. The Liberals have attempted several times to muzzle so-called "third-parties" when it comes to communicating near an election campaign.
The Elections Act sets tight spending limits for third parties (registered political parties have far greater flexibility and resources when it comes to advertising).
So what great offence did the BCGEU commit that warranted the kind of fine usually associated with high level criminal activity?
The union ran a 30-second radio and television ad that promoted the value of public servants. With its collective agreement about to expire at the end of March, the union was making the case why its members deserved a better contract.
The ads were not overtly political. They did not mention any political party, and contained only a passing reference to government cutbacks.
The by-elections in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope were called on a Thursday. The ads were already up and running by then, but the BCGEU actually contacted Elections B.C. the following day to make sure their ads weren't against the law.
Through what appears to be a communications mixup, the union didn't realize Elections B.C. considered the ads illegal until the following Tuesday.
Elections B.C. wasn't satisfied with that, however, and demanded to know how much the ads cost. The union said the total cost was about $280,000.
But Elections B.C. pegged the cost at $162,000 per riding, when the spending limits for third parties were set at just over $3,000. So the union was deemed to have overspent by $159,000 in each riding.
The penalties for overspending are potentially huge. They are 10 times the amount of money that was overspent, so the total penalty levied against the BCGEU was a whopping $3.2 million.
This is absurd and, one can argue, anti-democratic (not to mention offensive and insulting).
We're not talking about one of those notorious political "attack" ads here.
Instead, this was a situation where a union was making a legitimate argument on behalf of its members, when suddenly the government called two byelections, thus catching the union in an immediate and arguably unforeseen bind.
Making this ridiculous situation even more embarrassing for the government is the spectacle of Liberals MLAs gleefully poking the BCGEU in the eye, insisting it drop its appeal of the penalty because it didn't "play by the rules."
Well, the rules are offensive and are an assault on free speech. Rather than celebrating such an assault on democracy, the Liberals should be decrying it.
I've never been a big fan of unions engaging in full-on political advertising (as a union member myself, I don't like my union dues being spent in such a fashion), but connecting advertising to contract talks is perfectly legitimate.
The Liberals love to spend your tax dollars telling you what a great job they're doing, but when it comes to others spending their own money around election time, it's somehow fine to expose them to crippling financial penalties.
Of course, I'm not convinced an NDP government will repeal this gag law. Because too often, too many politicians think that when it comes to free speech, only they deserve rights they deny to others.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.
