Communist Party of Canada wins case at top court

[Macdonald Stainsby <mstainsby@xxxxxx>]

To all the comrades in the CPC:
Congratulations!!...you should run the 50 candiates anyway.
Pity about that tailing the labour aristocracy stuff, eh?

Macdonald
--
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/27/election_law030627

C B C . C A   N e w s   -   F u l l   S t o r y :

Supreme Court backs fringe parties
Communist Party of Canada wins
case at top court

Last Updated Fri Jun 27 21:45:44 2003

OTTAWA-- Fringe parties will find it
easier to get their names on ballots
and to raise money following a
Supreme Court of Canada decision
Friday.

Communist Party of Canada wins
case at top court In a 6-3 decision,
the country's highest court agreed
with arguments from the Communist
Party of Canada that requiring small
parties to field at least 50 candidates
to qualify for key electoral and financial
benefits is unconstitutional.

However, the court suspended its
judgment for 12 months to give the
federal government a chance to
rewrite the Federal Elections Act.

The law says parties must meet
certain requirements to be
registered as political parties, such
as the 50-candidate minimum.

The Communists have operated
as a political party in Canada for
years, but fell below the 50-constituent
threshold in the 1993 federal election.

A legal challenge was successful at
the trial court level in 1999, but the
Ontario Court of Appeal overturned
that ruling.

The relevant section of the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms is Section
3, which says every citizen of Canada
has the right to vote in an election of
members of the House of Commons
or a legislative assembly.

"Withholding the right to issue tax
receipts and to retain unspent election
funds from candidates of parties that
have not met the 50-candidate
threshold undermines the right of each
citizen to meaningful participatation in
the electoral process," wrote Justice
Frank Iacobucci for the majority.

The minority opinion held that the law
did violate the Charter, but that the
infringement was justifiable.

"The values furthered are consistent
with some of the fundamental principles
of a free and democratic society and
favouring large parties may not be
discordant with those principles," wrote
Justice Louis LeBel.

Comment from the government or the
Communist party wasn't immediately
available.

Written by CBC News Online staff


-------------------------------------------
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
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--
In the contradiction lies the hope.
                                     --Bertholt Brecht