Over the last couple days I’ve noticed sponsored links popping up on Facebook showing Ted Morton’s support for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. These sponsored links lead to Morton’s Facebook fan page.
I’m not really all that familiar with provincial and federal election finance laws, but the existence of these ads does make me wonder about a few things:
Are they being paid for by Morton himself, or his leadership campaign?
In either case, will Morton and/or his campaign be following the restrictions placed on third party advertising by federal election finance laws? I think Facebook sponsored links may be pulling text from the latest update posted on Morton’s fan page, so how will Morton and/or his campaign be keeping track of whether money was spent on advertising for his campaign, or on advertising for Harper? If the text is simply being pulled from a recent update on Morton’s fan page rather than being specifically selected for this ad by Morton or his campaign it is possible that the existence of this advertising for Harper is completely unintentional.
If Morton’s campaign is paying for these advertisements are there any provincial or federal laws or regulations related to the use of provincial political contributions and leadership campaign funds being used to purchase advertising for federal political parties and/or candidates and are they being followed?
I suppose another key question is is this advertising for Harper, for Morton’s campaign, or both? It seems to be endorsing Harper, but only links to Morton’s fan page.
