Abstract
The author considers the Harper v. Canada case concerning spending limits on individuals and groups other than candidates and political parties in the context of the larger landscape of Canadian campaign finance jurisprudence. The paper begins by reviewing the vibrant academic debate over law of the democratic process issues and noting the Canadian legal academy's surprising lack of attention to this subject area. The egalitarian the ory of election regulation that figures prominently in Harper is reviewed and it is suggested that the the ory led the Court to be insufficiently rigorous in its review of the spending limits in Harper. The author uses U.S. legal the ory, particularly process the ory, to articulate a new approach to judicial review in law of the democratic process cases that reconciles the Court's egalitarian the ory and the need to check the self-interest of Parliament.
Citation Information
Feasby, Colin.
"Freedom of Expression and the Law of the Democratic Process."
The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference
29.
(2005).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1079
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol29/iss1/13
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