Two lawyers are suggesting that an order from Speaker Bill Barisoff that free weekly newspapers be removed from the grounds of the legislature may be on shaky legal grounds.

The ban on newsweeklies is particularly questionable in light of the legislature's symbolic importance for such basic democratic principles as accountability, transparency, and freedom of expression, according to Murray Mollard, a lawyer and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association's executive director.

“One would query why and how their distribution would undermine the values of freedom of expression,” Mollard told the Georgia Straight. “Just the opposite, in my opinion.”

In September 28 letters, Barisoff ordered the publishers of Xtra! West and Monday Magazine to remove their boxes””and the newspapers””from the legislative precinct, as the grounds of the legislature are known. The boxes stand immediately adjacent to a coffee kiosk operated by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

According to Barisoff's letter, the “legislative display committee” has decided that “all publications displayed nearby the kiosk do not adhere to the guideline which states that commercial advertising is not permitted on the grounds of the legislature.”

Barisoff follows up with an order: “I would, therefore, ask that your publication and box be removed from the precinct by October 31, 2006.”

He concludes by providing a reference on the legislature's Web site to the guidelines. The guidelines state that””along with tent poles, the solicitation of donations, and singing in the legislature's upper rotunda during the summer””commercial advertising on the grounds is not permitted.

However, just a few feet away from the offending boxes, the front of the kiosk prominently displays signs advertising four daily newspapers, which the kiosk sells.

Mollard said that Barisoff's reliance on the guidelines might not stand up in court. “The legislative-precinct regulation actually prohibits neither 'commercial advertising' nor the distribution of newsweeklies on the grounds,” Mollard said.

The guidelines, in turn””which do prohibit “commercial advertising”””are problematic, he said.

“'Commercial advertising' is not actually defined, nor is there any real information about what the purpose of that provision is,” Mollard said. “It seems to me completely incongruous, if not absolutely arbitrary, that for-profit dailies can continue to be sold on the grounds, whereas newsweeklies such as Monday Magazine or Xtra! West cannot””such that one has to be suspicious of the motives as to why this decision has been taken.”

Barisoff did not return calls by the Straight's deadline, and staff in the Speaker's office refused to identify the members of the “legislative display committee”, which few have ever heard of until now.

Media lawyer Dan Burnett told the Straight that Barisoff may be exercising his power unfairly.

In Burnett's view, the rules governing the legislature's grounds ought to apply throughout the precinct: “It certainly would include the kiosk if it includes the boxes. The main point is whether the policy is a use of the power in a manner which is invalid because it makes an arbitrary and unjustifiable distinction between different kinds of advertising, and because it infringes on the Charter guarantee of freedom of expression, without any real justification as the law would require,” Burnett said. “There can surely be no harm in distributing items that contain advertising, since the kiosk does just that.”

Opposition house leader Mike Farnworth, a member of the legislative assembly management committee, called the ban “rather petty”.

“The boxes have been there for as long as I've been an MLA, at least since '91,” Farnworth told the Straight. “I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be able to be there.”

North Coast MLA Gary Coons, the Opposition ferries critic, is questioning why B.C. Ferries has spent an unknown sum of money on a glossy brochure that contains little in the way of new information.

“I would consider it a bit overboard,” Coons told the Straight.

B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall told the Straight that the eight-page brochure, called “Life on the Coast”, is a “customer education piece”, the first of its kind the publicly owned company has produced.

About 390,000 copies were recently distributed as an insert in a number of daily and regional newspapers, Marshall said.

Asked for the cost of it, Marshall said she didn't know, but would check. She had not returned a call with the information by the Straight's deadline.

Coons says the obvious expense of the brochure is upsetting in light of ferry fare increases. “I would think that perhaps something less expensive would suffice,” he said.

Coons added that since the B.C. Liberal government restructured the company as an independent commercial corporation in April 2003, it is no longer subject to B.C.'s freedom of information law.

“We have no access to information about how much this costs,” he said about the brochure. “There's no public accountability.”