Underneath the Golden Boy - Robson Hall Faculty of Law

Battle Hymn of the Incumbent 19
IV. AMENDMENTS
Bill 37 underwent several important amendments during the committee stage.
As one commentator noted, while the opposition was able to delay the bill's
passage until the fall, its biggest victory was likely the concessions it extracted
from the government on the bill:
The Tories have already realized a dividend from the hard work. The NDP dropped
several objectionable elements from the electoral finance bill, including proposed limits
on political advertising and controls on content which is, in some ways, more important
than delaying passage. The bill was clumsy and the Tories got the NDP to blink. 63
Many of these amendments indicate the NDP was responsive to the
feedback it received during the committee stage. In that sense, all of the public,
opposition, and government deserve credit for these improvements (the
opposition and the public for suggesting the changes, the government for
listening to and adopting them).
A. Election Financing
Two important amendments were made in this area. First, spending limits on
political advertisements in non-election years will be removed. 64 Given the
earlier discussion, this is undoubtedly a win for democracy. Second, the political
allowance (itself a positive development) will no longer be indexed to inflation. 65
This is also a positive development.
B. Legislative Assembly Management Commission
In the face of strong public, media, and opposition criticism, the NDP moved to
tone down the most draconian of its proposed changes in this area.
LAMC will no longer be charged with the responsibility of creating "partisan
guidelines" for most forms of MLA communication. Instead, the bill has been
amended to substitute "appropriate" in place of partisan, and it appears MLA
mail-outs will no longer be subject to these guidelines. 66 Additionally, the LAMC
will invite parties who do not have representation on the committee to join
discussion toward the creation of the guidelines. 67 While this will still allow the
63
Dan Lett, "Premier offered easy targets" Winnipeg Free Press (16 June 2008).
64
Bill 37, supra note 1, Sch. C, cl. 11(1) as amended.
65
Ibid. at cl. 15 as amended.
66
Ibid., Sch. E, cl. 2 as amended.
67
Ibid.