''Libman v Quebec (AG)'' 9973 S.C.R. 569 is a

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to ...

ruling issued on October 9, 1997, which invalidated part of Quebec's referendum law dealing with the regulation of expenses by third parties during a referendum campaign. A former leader of the Quebec Equality Party,

Robert Libman Robert Libman (born November 8, 1960) is a Canadian politician and architect. Background Born in Montreal, Quebec, he is the son of David Libman and Goldie Aronovitch. He attended Herzliah High School, Vanier College, and received a Bachelor of ...

, took the case to court after the 1992 referendum on the

Charlottetown Accord The Charlottetown Accord (french: Accord de Charlottetown) was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October ...

. The Supreme Court overturned the

Court of Quebec The Court of Quebec (french: Cour du Québec) is a court of first instance in the Province of Quebec, Canada. The court has jurisdiction over civil matters, criminal and penal matters as well as over youth matters The court sits in administrat ...

, the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec (french: Cour supérieure du Québec) is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Que ...

, and the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA) (in French: ''la Cour d'appel du Québec'') is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The Court wa ...

. The section of the ''Referendum Act'' that ruled out third party expenditure (s. 404) was considered incompatible with

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

under section 2 of the ''

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part ...

.'' The Supreme Court found that the objectives of the Act "to permit an informed choice to be made by ensuring that some positions are not buried by others" and "to preserve the confidence of the electorate in a democratic process that it knows will not be dominated by the power of money" are valid and praiseworthy. However, ruling out third party expenditure altogether was too restrictive to be justified as a reasonable limit "prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society" as per section 1 of the ''Charter.'' The Supreme Court's judges suggested the Quebec legislature limit expenditure by "private intervenors" to $300 on "publicity expenses" to advertise the intervenor's views on a matter of public interest and raise the ceiling of $600 to organize a meeting to $1000. As a result, the

Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

was forced to drop charges on 20 people prosecuted under the Quebec ''Referendum Act'' for illegal spendings during the 1995 referendum on sovereignty.

External links

Full text of the ruling
Supreme Court of Canada cases Canadian freedom of expression case law Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law 1997 in Canadian case law {{Canada-law-stub

See also

External links