Elections are expensive so we shouldn't be getting bargain-basement discourse.
But sadly we are, according to some media reports that suggest some national party advertisements are misleading or wrong.
For example, latest reports out of Richmond and South Vancouver suggest Conservative ads targeted to Mandarin and Punjabi-speaking voters wrongly accuse the Liberals of wanting pot stores and brothels in their communities.
Is this what all this money is being spent on? According to Elections Canada, our local candidates can spend more than $200,000 for the federal election and their party can spend even more — over $50 million.
Not only that, a longer campaign will also cost Canadian taxpayers probably double of what a traditional five-week 35-day campaign costs or $700 million to run.
So with all this cash floating around, we should expect to see some serious political advertising and accurate and clear messaging about the issues from our candidates.
