Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Source Publication
Constitutional Forum
Abstract
In Working Families v. Ontario, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the right to vote was complicated by the triangulation of s.2(b), s.3, and s.33 of the Charter. After Ontario’s twelve-month spending limits on third-party advertising were invalidated under s.2(b) of the Charter the government of Ontario re-enacted the same limits and added an override provision to pre-empt review under that guarantee. In the s.3 litigation that followed – referred to in this article as Working Families 2 – the Supreme Court held, by 5-4 vote, that the same third-party spending limits violated s.3’s right to vote. This short comment explains how the interface of third-party rights, the right to vote, and the override complicated the Court’s conception of access to information under s.3. The analysis re-focuses the attention on voters to show how Working Families 2 can be given a voter-based interpretation that advances the principle of voter agency under s.3.
Repository Citation
Cameron, Jamie, "Working Families v Ontario: Toward a Principle of Voter Agency" (2026). Articles & Book Chapters. 3425.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/3425