The death of Canada’s election results ban was fittingly announced on Twitter on Jan. 13. The law – which prohibited the reporting of results across time zones – survived a mass tweet last election, but just barely.

The death of Canada’s election results ban was fittingly announced on Twitter on Jan. 13. The law – which prohibited the reporting of results across time zones – survived a mass tweet last election, but just barely. While media organizations have long criticized the ban, it took a lone citizen to lay down the legal gauntlet. In the end, though, it wasn’t the Charter that made the ban untenable – it was changing technology. The ban’s lifting is a welcome development for journalists. And if information is power, western Canadian voters will have gained a little more. On the downside, this may put some added ‘real-time’ pressure on J-Source’s hardworking corps of political contributors.