Some laws should be changed because they should never have been made.

Others should be changed because they were made at a time when they made sense . . . but times change.

The federal ban on reporting election results while polls remain open in some parts of the Canada is a fine example of the latter.

Under current federal law governing federal general elections, it is illegal to report ballot counts, party standings, winners and losers . . . anything that could be construed as "election results" from eastern Canada until after the polls close in British Columbia.

It makes sense, because the results of eastern voters' choices could colour decision-making by western voters - knowing what the other guys did could be construed as an advantage for the west (or a disadvantage, for purists who feel voters should make their decisions based on personal choices, rather than responding to a pack mentality).

It should simply be a question of fairness for all voters.

But it's not. The problem is timing - it's about time zones.

Polling times are already delayed in the east and moved up in the west, to try and synchronize voting periods.

But Canada is a big country, and you can push that solution only so far. Consequently, there still is a lag between poll hours on opposite coasts.

While "legitimate" news media in Canada are forced to adhere to the ban, international news sources, especially some radio stations in the United States that traditionally capitalized on the Canadian ban, were not bound by any such rules, and slipped election results to B.C. in time for voters here to take the information to the polling booths.

And now the realities of Facebook, Twitter, other social media, and even virtually instantaneous email and the simplicity of texting, have rendered the ban completely obsolete.

This is one thing the "Harper Government" is doing right.