Evidence of meeting #113 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was elections.
A recording is available from Parliament.
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
As far as affiliate unions, unions affiliated with the CLC, go, you'd want to ask them—
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Okay, we can do that. Hopefully we'll have the time to do that, if the government allows it.
You spent $300,000 on advertising during the 2015 election. Can you give us some sense as to what type of advertising was done, what kinds of campaigns were conducted with those dollars?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
The CLC typically runs a campaign called “Better Choices” in which we focus on specific issues. In 2015, the issues were retirement security, child care, and things like that, issues fundamental to our members and, we believe, to working people. We try to generate a conversation on the issues and not on which party to support. The CLC doesn't tell members, doesn't purport to tell members which party to vote for.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
The advertising that you do wouldn't include anything that would promote or oppose any political party or candidate?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
Under Bill C-23, the Fair Elections Act, advertising with respect to issues that are associated with a party is regulated under those provisions. So, yes, in law, they do fall under that definition, but we certainly don't aim at them in partisan terms. We discuss the substantive issues.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Okay, but you said that the Ontario Federation of Labour and others like them are part of your advertising and whatnot during the federal elections. On September 1, 2015, they indicated that, and I will quote from the press release they put out, “The Ontario Federation of Labour is working with the Canadian Labour Congress”—and it mentions other people they are working with—“to defeat the Harper Conservatives and elect an NDP Government during the October 19, 2015 federal election.”
To me, it sounds as though they are certainly indicating that there was some effort being made to promote a certain political party and oppose another one. Is that inaccurate?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
I work for the Canadian Labour Congress, not for the Ontario Federation of Labour.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Sure. They are saying they worked with the Canadian Labour Congress.
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
All I can tell you is that the CLC has an approach to general elections where we focus on the issues. That's what we want to talk about. Absolutely, we leave it for members to decide which party of the day best represents their interests on those issues.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Sure, but they did indicate they were working with the Canadian Labour Congress to do just that, to say they were opposing one political party and supporting another. You may want to have a discussion with them about that, if that's not your policy and intention to do that.
Your funding, in terms of the funding that you utilize, that $300,000 and other election-related activities and pre-writ activities related to elections, where does that come from? Is that strictly from the dues of members, or are there other sources of funding that you receive?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
The only funding to support the work of the Canadian Labour Congress comes from affiliated unions, which in turn derive from members' dues, absolutely. I would just remind you that's protected by the Supreme Court decision in Lavigne and in law in Canada, which understands the advocacy and issue campaigns of the labour movement as being part of its associational role as collective bargaining agents for—
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Yes, but it's your understanding, though, that the money that's coming in from your affiliated organizations is strictly and 100% derived from membership dues, or to your knowledge, would there be any other sources of funding?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
I don't know the answer to that. I just know that the CLC derives its funding base from a per capita amount charged on the basis of membership to affiliated unions.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Would you know if those affiliated organizations ever received any foreign funding? Would you know the answer to that?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
As most people who know about the labour movement in Canada already realize, there are international unions that are present in Canada and that played a role, historically, in the formation of unions in Canada. Many Canadian affiliate unions of the Canadian Labour Congress are headquartered in the United States. I am not sure if that's what you're referring to.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Would those members get a say in how their dues are spent on election advertising?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
Absolutely. The Canadian Labour Congress is arguably the largest democratically member owned and operated organization in Canada.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
If members didn't want their dues to go towards this campaign to defeat a certain government and promote another one, they would have a right to have that money spent in other ways?
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
Absolutely. They have multiple opportunities, all through the year in the election cycle, to participate along with their co-workers in the organizational life of their unions to shape the policy direction and the issues and the parties they support.
We definitely support that kind of democratic engagement.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
That's quite enlightened. We don't do that here in Parliament, where voters might not want to buy a bunch of fighter jets, but they're buying them anyway.
This is a really interesting panel. I'm not going to have enough time, so I'll try to keep things short.
I'll start with you, Professor Dubois. If you had Facebook and Twitter in front of you, what would be your first point of contention with how they're operating right now, in terms of their vigilance as the platform for sometimes nefarious activities?
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
There is discussion from these companies, often, that it's very difficult to identify voter suppression or other disinformation tactics. Frankly, we dealt with spam, and we can deal with other forms of content that we don't want to have on the platform.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
This may be hard to be empirical about, but in terms of influencing a Canadian voter's mind today, between the so-called traditional media—print, radio, television, and social media—certainly social media has grown. Are they now equivalent? Would you suggest that they've perhaps become even more significant in terms of how Canadians consume their news and hear about different stories, say in the Ontario election or the upcoming federal one? In that ratio between listening to the evening news, driving and hearing it on the radio, and what they're getting on their phones and computers, do we have any evidence as to how influential those platforms have become, in the minds of voters?
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
One of the problems is that we don't have strong, consistent data in Canada about Canadian Internet use because the StatsCan survey was cut. From other countries that are similar, we know that—
