Campaign fabrications a disservice to democracy By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/08/2019 (2029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial election campaign has barely begun, and we’re already hearing outright falsehoods from some political parties.

It’s one thing for candidates to sharply criticize each other in election campaigns, and to quarrel over each other’s records in government. That’s expected. Elections are not for the faint of heart, and tend to be nasty affairs at the best of times.

We’ve already seen a number of attack ads from Manitoba’s political parties in this race, and there will no doubt be more.

But when election campaigning deteriorates to the point where parties completely misrepresent the positions of their opponents, the democratic process is betrayed.

Unfortunately, we’re seeing examples of that in the 2019 election race.

Manitoba’s New Democratic Party, for example, has claimed repeatedly that the Progressive Conservative party plans to bring in a health-care premium if re-elected. The Tories have made no such pledge and have rejected the idea outright numerous times. Premier Brian Pallister floated the idea of a health tax two years ago, but quashed it within weeks. Since then, he has said on more than one occasion his party has no plans to bring one in.

For the NDP to now claim a health-care premium is part of the PC party’s platform is a deliberate fabrication.

So, too, is a Tory accusation that the NDP, if elected, would institute a carbon tax of $300 per tonne or higher. The Tories made that charge last week, claiming it would add 60 cents in taxes to a litre of gasoline. That would be six times the $50-per-tonne carbon tax the federal Liberals are planning to phase in over four years.

The claim is entirely fictitious. The NDP has not pledged to bring in a $300-per-tonne carbon tax, or anything close to it. The party has said a carbon tax will be part of its campaign platform, but it has not yet revealed the details of that plan. One assumes that will come later in the campaign.

Elections should be fought on ideas, not falsehoods. It serves no one’s interest for parties to make up things about their opponents’ campaign platforms.

When the party does announce those details, the Tories, other parties and voters will be free to praise or critique the plan. Like any other campaign pledge, it should be evaluated based on its merits.

For its part, the Liberal party has claimed both the Tories and the NDP plan to sell off Crown-owned entities. Neither party has made such a pledge, nor have they even suggested it.

Elections should be fought on ideas, not falsehoods. It serves no one’s interest for parties to make up things about their opponents’ campaign platforms.

Using fear as a weapon to attract votes hurts the electoral process. It adds to the cynicism that surrounds politics and has already turned many people off elections.

There are likely many reasons why fewer than 60 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in Manitoba elections these days. The level of dishonesty we see in elections, and in politics generally, is likely a contributing factor, especially when it comes to trying to engage younger people in the political process. What message does it send to them when political parties outright lie about their opponents?

Political parties — all of them — should stick to the facts. If their campaign strategy involves criticizing their opponents’ platforms, they should do so based on actual campaign pledges, not on fabricated ones.