Revving up its court challenge of Premier Doug Ford’s gas pump stickers attacking the federal carbon tax, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) is launching a video called “fill up on free speech” to drive the point home and seek financial support.

The video features CCLA executive director Michael Bryant, a former Liberal attorney general of Ontario, describing the stickers as government propaganda and arguing they are unconstitutional as “compelled political speech” for gas station owners.

“We don’t think the government should force anyone to promote the government message,” Bryant says, adding the sticker “does not tell the whole story” of carbon pricing — now an issue in the Oct. 21 federal election campaign.

“Look, the provincial government is free to trash-talk the federal carbon tax themselves, but they shouldn’t be able to force gas station owners to promote it.”

Under a law passed earlier this year by Ford’s Progressive Conservative government, gas station owners can face daily fines if they don’t post the stickers — many of which have peeled off because of vandalism and problems with the adhesive — on their pumps.

Stickers warn motorists “the federal carbon tax will cost you.”

The peeling problem has been an embarrassment for Ford, whose family company Deco Labels is in the sticker business but did not make the stickers in question. The premier has vowed the problems will be fixed with a new batch of decals.

Bryant invites viewers to share his video on social media and to contribute the cost of a tank of gas on the CCLA’s website to help fuel the court challenge.

“If you believe in freedom…help us fight back, help us have this law declared unconstitutional,” he says, wearing a black T-shirt with a gas station in the background.

“It’s not like a sticker that tells you the ingredients on, like, a cereal box, or stickers that tell you the dangers of smoking. Those are public health messages. That’s fair game. But this sticker, it’s not a public health message...it does not tell the whole story.”

Energy Minister Greg Rickford’s office said it is standing behind its sticker plan but did not reply to a question on when or if another batch of stickers is coming.

“Our government believes that people deserve to know how much the federal carbon tax will cost them every time they go to the pump,” the office said in a statement. “We will use every tool at our disposal to protect Ontario families and businesses from the carbon tax.”

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has been critical of the stickers, calling them a burden on business, and opposition parties say the roughly $5,000 spent on the first batch is a misuse of public money in a bid to boost the campaign of federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

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