The current election is being fought under some of the toughest laws that Canada has ever seen against lying in politics.

But it’s far from clear that the toughened-up laws are having a deterrent effect. Canada’s 43rd federal election campaign is just over a week old and the battleground is already littered with lies, accusations of lying and demands for retractions.

Is it worse than previous elections? With only anecdotal evidence and institutional memory to go on, I would cautiously say the answer to that question is Yes.

Calling someone a liar used to be heavy artillery in the heat of political warfare; the nuclear option. But now it seems just another day at the office for the political combatants in Election 2019. Is it the Donald Trump effect? The downward spiral of social-media discourse?

Canada’s comic legend, Rick Mercer, has even been dragged into the liars’ fray, forced to ask a B.C. riding association this week to stop trying to pass off Mercer’s own words as an endorsement of the Conservative party.

“Your candidate in Burnaby North Seymour is distributing a meme on social media with my face and the words ‘Vote Conservative’ indicating it is a quote from me,” Mercer complained to leader Andrew Scheer on Twitter. “Not true. All fake. Please stop.”

Tougher measures against political falsehoods were part of the big “election modernization” legislation passed by the last Parliament. Offences can carry penalties reaching up to fines of $50,000 and five years in prison.

The measures are so tough, in fact, that they have prompted a legal, free-expression challenge to the law’s false-statement provisions, which was rolled out on Wednesday by the Canadian Constitution Foundation. More on that in a bit.

It is now an offence under Canada’s election law to declare that any leader, candidate or even any public figure attached to the party has broken the law. It’s also illegal to make a false statement about “the citizenship, place of birth, education, professional qualifications or membership in a group or association” of political figures.

You may be tempted to read that last paragraph twice, since statements like that have already become part of the daily back and forth on the campaign trail leading up to the Oct. 21 vote. They’re certainly rampant on Twitter, where Scheer’s communications director, Brock Harrison, had to retract a post he made this week alleging that Justin Trudeau was being investigated by the RCMP.

You may also be wondering whether the official Commissioner of Elections is already doing some investigations, given the heavy traffic in fibs and falsehoods on social media these past eight days. Partisans who know about the new laws in this election, in fact, have been encouraging people to lodge official complaints, to stretch some of this new legal muscle.

I asked the commissioner’s office whether it could update me with the number or nature of complaints it may already be investigating. A spokeswoman said all that information was subject to confidentiality provisions of the law.

However, Myriam Croussette did add: “I can say that the CCE takes all complaints seriously and, where appropriate, conducts a thorough investigation. The duration of these investigations can vary greatly depending on the nature and complexity of the file.”

Cynics will say that trying to prevent lying in politics is the same as warning a scuba diver not to get wet before plunging into the deep.

The Canadian Constitution Foundation hasn’t launched its legal challenge in defence of lies, it should be said. The case, filed in Ontario Superior Court this week, is intended to stand up for citizens’ rights of free expression, including the democratic right to say wrong, stupid or downright false things in the heat of a campaign.

“In the digital age, social media serves an important ‘town hall’ function, and laws such as this one, which is vague, over-broad, and backed by severe punishments, pose a serious threat of chilling the debate and discussion that are necessary to a vibrant democracy,” the foundation’s executive director, Joanna Baron, said in an email to me on Wednesday.

For instance, Canadians can disagree about whether Trudeau obstructed justice in his handling of the SNC-Lavalin prosecution, Baron said. “But the Charter gives every Canadian the right to allege that he committed that crime without fear of punishment.”

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The CBC has a special “disinformation unit” in the current election — yes, it’s come to that. One of the reporters on the beat, Elizabeth Thompson, said to me that the real flurry in lying and false statements, if other countries’ experience is a guide, generally comes in the last few days of the campaign. So if we think it’s bad now, wait a few weeks.

Those tough new laws may get a serious workout by the time Oct. 21 rolls around.

Susan Delacourt is the Star’s Ottawa bureau chief and a columnist covering national politics. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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