The regulation of electoral competition in Canada: an egalitarian model

Authors

  • Óscar Sánchez Muñoz

Keywords:

Canada, elections, political parties, party finance

Abstract

The Canadian model of the electoral competition regulation is, probably, one of the most interesting in the world, as it places the concern about equity –or equality of chances between the electoral competitors– in the center of the debate. In its first part, this article offers an overview of the model’s construction, paying attention to the role of the dialogue between the legislature and the judiciary in that process. The second part deals with the most relevant judicial debates about questions like third party expenditures, electoral broadcasting regulation and thresholds to qualify for public financing, showing that these debates were really about a larger ideological question: namely, whether an egalitarian or libertarian model of election regulation would prevail in Canada. In the final part of the article, we can find some of the questions that remain open for debate, like the challenge of the public funding in the recent legislative reform.