Article content

On May 18, 2004, when the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Stephen Harper’s challenge to limits on election spending by secret lobby groups, the prime minister was spitting mad.

“That these organizations would swamp political parties that are subsidized to the tunes of millions of dollars is actually nonsense,” he said, and vowed to one day repeal the unjust law.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Stephen Maher: Stephen Harper poised to reap benefits of election law changes Back to video

He had worked on the challenge for three years on behalf of the National Citizens Coalition, sitting in courtrooms, working with lawyers, giving interviews, arguing the law violated the Charter right to freedom of expression.

The limits were brought in by Jean Chrétien, who wanted to prevent conservative businesspeople from secretly funding attack ads on politicians they dislike, like, for example, him.

These days, the unions secretly fund attack ads against Harper. Do you suppose he is defending their right to freedom of expression?