Canadians join with Greens against Attack Ads

OTTAWA — The Green Party of Canada has had immense reaction from Canadians to its “Attack Ad on Attack Ads.” Released on Monday, the ad has attracted more than forty thousand viewers on Youtube and has been one of the most popular Canadian videos of the week. “Greens have been hearing from Canadians across the country thanking us for taking this stand. We’ve received emails, phone calls, and even stopping our candidates on the street to thank them,” said Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May.

Given the popular response, the Green Party has decided to take the campaign against attack ads to the next level by launching a petition to prohibit paid political advertising in Canada, as is currently done in countries around the world including the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Israel and Ireland.

Greens are calling for an amendment to the Broadcasting Act to ban paid political advertising (by political or third parties), coupled with access to airwaves for non-commercial public information broadcasts. “If networks organize free access to the airwaves, candidates would have the opportunity to actually explain what they stand for. This would be much better for democracy than the character attacks we are seeing now,” said Deputy Leader Adriane Carr.

“It is well understood in public opinion research that attack ads ‘work’ by reducing voter turn-out. Those who use attack ads have the goal of reducing voter turn-out. It is a deliberate strategy of their campaigns,” said May.

Current Elections Canada rules limit political party spending on television ads during a writ period, but there are no controls at all on television ads outside a writ period.

The Greens have also launched a new group on Facebook: Canadians Against Attack Ads.