I was looking into this as well - the election laws seem to prohibit the advertising of political books during an election, presumably to prevent political parties from circumventing advertising limits.The entire case seems to centre around the use of lawn signs, which are not traditionally used to promote books.
However, I think they have a good defense and can beat the charges.
The sole purpose of their advertising was to sell their book, not influence the election, voting is not mentioned at all
I don't think the lawn signs meet the definition of political advertising in section 2 of the elections act as they don't mention the party by name
The book was published Sep 4, before the writ on Sep 11
The other 18 books released about Justin Trudeau around the election did not receive the same scrutiny, even though some of them were advertised using print media and billboards
You're right, the penalties under the elections act are summary offenses which means trials are not required to issue fines. However, the similarity ends there - the "review" is not a trial, it's just a review of written evidence by a more senior person. See section 521.14.
I was looking into this as well - the election laws seem to prohibit the advertising of political books during an election, presumably to prevent political parties from circumventing advertising limits.The entire case seems to centre around the use of lawn signs, which are not traditionally used to promote books.
However, I think they have a good defense and can beat the charges.
You're right, the penalties under the elections act are summary offenses which means trials are not required to issue fines. However, the similarity ends there - the "review" is not a trial, it's just a review of written evidence by a more senior person. See section 521.14.