Opposition parties deride Harper government's plan to change copyright laws for negative ads

Gaffe prone politicians be warned — the Conservative Party wants to pounce on your words.

According to CTV News, the Harper government has a plan to change copyright laws allowing political parties to use broadcast news content in their negative ads, for free, and without the authorization of the broadcaster.

So, for example, if someone like — let’s say — Justin Trudeau says something dumb in a television or radio interview, the Tories will be able to use that footage in their negative political ads.

The new rules, according to CTV, will be pushed through in an omnibus budget bill later this Fall.

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Not surprisingly, the Liberals are angry.

"Such unethical activity is explicitly illegal under current Canadian law. It constitutes theft of the intellectual property of news organizations produced for journalistic purposes, not partisan advertising. To eliminate that important distinction would blur the line between “news” and propaganda - undermining the integrity of news programming and editorial decision-making,” Liberal MP Ralph Goodale wrote on his Facebook page.

"This appears to be the latest Conservative perversion of democracy, right up there with the "In-and-Out" election financing scam for which the Conservative Party was charged and convicted, the robo-call voter suppression/electoral fraud scheme for which a Conservative operative was charged and convicted in Guelph, the Penashue violations in Labrador, the DelMastro trial in Peterborough, the $90,000 Mike Duffy/Nigel Wright fiasco in the Senate … and on and on it goes.

"What a disgrace."

The NDP — whose leader perhaps isn’t as gaffe-prone as others — is also disturbed.

"The Cons will change the copyright law so they can build up their attack ads on their opponents," NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus wrote on his Facebook page.

"These guys will do anything to give themselves a political advantage."

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In the past, broadcasters have complained about the practice of political parties using their footage in negative advertisements.

Earlier this year, a consortium — including CBC, CTV, Rogers and Shaw — penned a letter a letter to political parties saying that they would no longer air political ads that include their news content.

"As news organizations, the use of our content in political advertisements without our express consent may compromise our journalistic independence and call into question our journalistic ethics, standards and objectivity," the broadcasters wrote, according to CBC News.

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Political consultant — and political ad expert — Gerry Nicholls, suggests that this change will certainly buoy the Harper Conservatives’ re-election bid.

"A main part of the Conservative strategy is to undermine confidence in Trudeau’s leadership ability," he told Yahoo Canada News.

"So any video clips of him saying something stupid or flip flopping on an issue or looking less than prime ministerial, would be powerful ammunition for their TV attack ad arsenal."

Nicholls, however, notes that there’s another and perhaps more important layer to this.

"It’s an issue that goes beyond just the Conservatives need to feed their media meat grinder," he said.

"The government is raising a legitimate point as to whether or not copyright laws should limit the right to free political speech."

What do you think?

Should political parties be able to use news content in their negative ads — even without the permission of broadcasters?

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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