In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled in Libman v. Attorney General of Quebec that restricting third party spending has a valid object "to permit an informed choice to be made by ensuring that some positions are not buried by others."

Stephen Harper, then president of the National Citizens Coalition (he became Prime Minister in 2006), launched a constitutional challenge in June 2000 to Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta in Edmonton.

The limit of $3000 was insufficient to purchase a full-page advertisement in a major Canadian newspaper or to initiate a bulk-mailing campaign within a single riding with Canada Post.

Stephen Harper later became Prime Minister and held that office for almost a decade, during which time his Conservative government enacted several far-reaching changes elsewhere to the Canada Elections Act and related electoral laws.

Despite this, the Harper government only made minor changes to Sections 350 and 351,[2] which remain in force (complete with limits originally prescribed in 2000 that are neither adjusted for nor indexed to inflation) as of 2016.