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From 24 Hours
The B.C. government made some last-minute changes to its controversial amendments to provincial election laws Tuesday but the changes failed to quell critics.
Attorney General Wally Oppal said he tabled amendments to Bill 42, the Election Amendment Act 2008, in response to public feedback.
"I think we ran something up the flagpole and it didn't fly like we thought it would," Oppal said after tabling the changes.
The original amendment would have reduced the period of time that third-party advertising spending would be regulated from 120 days prior to the start of an election campaign, plus the 28-day campaign period itself.
That period of time has been reduced to 60 days.
Pre-campaign spending has raised some concerns in B.C., which now has a fixed election date. The next provincial election is set for May 12, 2009.
Oppal made no change to the third-party spending limits, though, which remain at $3,000 per riding or $150,000 total.
"I think we're doing the right thing by compromising," he said.
But the amendment did nothing to stem Opposition disdain for the proposed legislation.
New Democrat critic Leonard Krog said the bill remains undemocratic and flawed.
"You can put lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig," he said. "Quite frankly (they've) reduced the period from 120 to 60 days prior to the election (campaign) but it is not going to affect the constitutionality of it. I think it's unconstitutional."
Labour groups also opposed the bill.
Earlier this month, the B.C. Federation of Labour and several other unions ran a full-page ad in several newspapers. Gordon Campbell wants you to just shut up, it said.
On Tuesday, federation president Jim Sinclair said the amendment is a reaction to anti-Liberal ads that ran during the 2005 election campaign.
"The fact was they felt the heat from these ads, they felt the heat from people speaking out and they wanted to shut people up, " he said, adding the federation is considering legal options to challenge Bill 42.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association also weighed in against the amendments.
"The Liberal government's tinkering does nothing to make this legislation less repugnant," president Rob Holmes said in a release.
He said the bill "demonstrates a profound disrespect for the democratic process."
The government, which holds 46 of the 79 seats in the provincial legislature, has made it clear that Bill 42 will be passed by the end of the spring session on Thursday, with or without full debate.
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