In an era where information is accessible in an almost instantaneous manner at the tips of our fingers, there is almost nothing more frustrating than lack of Wi-Fi, spotty cell service, or, as any journalist who has tried to do their job during an election period will tell you, a government publishing blackout due to a byelection.
Premier Brian Pallister called a byelection in the riding of St. Boniface on June 19. The vacancy in St. Boniface was left when former premier Greg Selinger resigned on March 7.
When a byelection is called, Section 92 of the Election Finance Act states that during the election period, a government department or Crown agency must not advertise or publish any information about its programs or activities, with the exception of tenders, health notices and matters relating to public safety.
Likely meant to prevent the sitting government from gaining any type of unfair advantage in an election through some sort of announcement directly before the election, the section puts an unreasonable moratorium on the publication of government activities, particularly those of Crown corporations.
The section in the act prevents the free flow of information. It also gives the government and Crown agencies a blanket excuse to not answer tough questions from the media, and in some cases the opposition, though matters before the legislative assembly during the period of a byelection including the throne speech, budget, introduction or passage of a bill or an order or resolutions of the legislative assembly are still fair game.
Slashing the ability to share information does not benefit anybody.
With the byelection happening down in St. Boniface, you may be wondering how our little northern corner of the province is affected.
Well, Snow Lake has a new doctor, which is great news. But as the Northern Health Region is a government organization, it is restricted in what it can currently publish.
So, beyond that news, and the physician’s start date, few details will be available until after the election on July 17.
And remember that spiffy new brand we were supposed to receive from Travel Manitoba by the end of April? Things on that end were delayed, and Travel Manitoba is a Crown corporation, so it will be radio silence on that end for the next few weeks.
This adds a delay to any non-local advertising by the City of Flin Flon, as the city is waiting for the brand to help streamline its advertising. Plus, the anticipation is killing us – who really wants to wait for this exciting thing that will draw attention to our area?
Nobody wants to see a sitting government win an election through a well-timed, joyful announcement prior to voting day, because that would just be gross. There’s a reason this law exists, but it extends too far.
If Crown corporations were exempt from the law, business during an election period could look a little more like business as usual.
