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In 2011, Hudak blamed his loss on such ads. And since then, the party has introduced many private members bills to reform the law, but without the support of the governing Liberals. MPP Bill Walker, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound plans to reintroduce a similar effort later this session. His private members’ slot isn’t until October, and he wanted to wait for Essensa to release his report after meeting with him about a month ago.

“The reality is Ontario is the only province in the country with this loophole,” Walker said. He said the jump in third-party involvement between the 2011 vote and 2014 shows it’s necessary to amend the rules “so people can’t buy an election; so people that are outside [the electoral process] can’t unduly influence the process.”

The bill will focus on capping how much third parties can spend during general elections.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur said the government looks forward to reviewing the Elections Ontario report and highlighted the Liberals’ previous reforms that required third-party advertisers who spend more than $500 during a writ to register. The spokesperson added, “We are always open to conversations on way to improve Ontario’s democratic process,” but made no commitment to review third-party rules.

The report also calls for a standard writ longer than 29 days to give Elections Ontario more time to offer Ontarians different times and ways to vote. And it says votes should be held on non-school days, such as weekends, so those buildings can be better used as polling stations. It also said setting fixed date elections for June, to avoid overlap with municipal elections and to ensure better weather for candidates and canvassers as well as voters on election day.

The total cost for the 2014 general election was $18,909,557, down $5,762,897, from the $24,672,454 forecast when the writs were drawn up.