Contributions

Definition [R.A., s. 2(1)]
• Contribution means money, and the commercial value of goods and services, other than volunteer labour, provided by any person, group or government, whether as a contribution, gift, loan, advance, deposit or otherwise, to any other person or group to be used by that other person or group for the purposes of a referendum, but does not include:

  • money provided in the normal course of business, by way of loan, advance or other means of lending, under normal terms and conditions, including the rate of interest thereon, for money provided in that way; and

  • the actual cost to the recipient thereof of goods and services provided in the normal course of business at not less than their commercial value.

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Expenses

Definition [R.A., s. 2(1)]
• Referendum expenses mean:

  • amounts paid;

  • liabilities incurred;

  • the commercial value of goods and services, other than volunteer labour, donated and provided; and

  • amounts that represent the differences between amounts paid and liabilities incurred for goods and services, other than volunteer labour, and the commercial value thereof where they are provided at less than their commercial value;
  
  for the purpose of supporting or opposing, directly and during a referendum period, a referendum question.

• Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, referendum expenses include the following costs when incurred for that purpose:

  • the cost of acquiring the right to the use of time on the facilities of any broadcasting undertaking or of acquiring the right to the publication of an advertisement in any periodical publication;

  • the cost of acquiring the services of any person, including remuneration paid to the person or on behalf of the person, as an agent or otherwise, except where the services are donated or provided free of charge;

  • the cost of acquiring meeting space, of provision of light refreshment and of acquiring and distributing mailing objects, material or devices of a promotional nature; and

  • the cost of goods or services provided by a government.

• Referendum expenses do not include any costs incurred by a member of the Senate or the House of Commons in the discharge of the member's duties and paid out of any allowance or other amount provided to the member pursuant to the Parliament of Canada Act.

  Limit [R.A., s. 15(1)-(2)]
  
  

• No person or group, other than a registered referendum committee, must incur referendum expenses during a referendum period that, in the aggregate, exceed $5 000.

• No registered referendum committee must incur referendum expenses during a referendum period that, in the aggregate, exceed the product obtained by multiplying the product obtained by multiplying 30¢ by the fraction published by the Chief Electoral Officer in the Canada Gazette pursuant to subsection 39(2) of the Canada Elections Act, by the number of names appearing on all preliminary lists of electors at the referendum for the electoral districts in which the committee indicated, in its application for registration, it intends to support or oppose the referendum question.

Reporting [R.A., s. 19, 20(1)]

• Within four months after polling day at a referendum, the chief agent of each registered referendum committee must file with the Chief Electoral Officer a true return, signed by the chief agent.

• The return must contain detailed statements of:

  • all referendum expenses incurred by the committee;

  • the amount of the contributions received during and after the referendum period by the committee from each of the following classes of contributors: individuals; corporations whose shares are publicly traded; corporations whose shares are not publicly traded; trade unions; corporations without share capital, other than trade unions; political parties; governments; and other groups;

  • the number of contributors in each class described above; and

  • the name of each contributor in each class listed above, that made one or more contributions to the committee during or after the referendum period that exceeded, or the aggregate of which exceeded, $250 and, in each case, the amount of the contribution or aggregate.

• Each return must include the auditor's report and the originals of all bills, vouchers and receipts and be accompanied by an affidavit or statutory declaration made by the chief agent.

• The auditor of a registered referendum committee must make a report to the chief agent of the committee on the referendum finances return of the committee and must make such examinations as will enable the auditor to state in the report whether in the auditor's opinion the return presents fairly the financial transactions contained in the accounting records on which it is based.

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Contributions

Definition [Special Version of E.A., s. 88]
• Sums of money donated to a national committee and services rendered and goods furnished to it for the purposes of promoting an option submitted to a referendum are deemed to be contributions.

• The following are not contributions:

  • volunteer work and the goods or services produced by such work;

  • a loan granted to a national committee at the current market rate of interest at the time it is granted by an authorized political party;

  • air time on the radio or television or space in a newspaper, periodical or other printed matter available free of charge to national committees by any radio, television or cable broadcaster or any owner of a newspaper, periodical or other printed matter, provided he or she offers such service equitably as to quality and quantity to each national committee;

  • transfers of funds between: an authorized party and the referendum fund of a national committee; the referendum fund of a national committee and the referendum fund put at the disposal of a local agent.

  Limit [Special Version of E.A., s. 91]

• The total of contributions to each national committee by the same elector in the same referendum must not exceed the amount of $3 000.

Expenses

Definition [Special Version of E.A., s. 402, 404]
• The cost of any goods or services used during the referendum period to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, an option submitted to a referendum is a regulated expense.

• The following are not regulated expenses:

  • the cost of publishing articles, editorials, news, interviews, columns or letters to the editor in a newspaper, periodical or other publication, provided that they are published without payment, reward or promise of payment or reward, that the newspaper, periodical or other publication is not established for the purposes or in view of the referendum and that the circulation and frequency of publication are as what obtains outside the referendum period;

  • the cost at fair market value of producing, promoting and distributing a book that was planned to be put on sale at the prevailing market price regardless of the issue of the writ;

  • the cost of broadcasting by a radio or television station of a program of public affairs, news or commentary, provided that the program is broadcast without payment, reward or promise of payment or reward;

  • the reasonable expenses incurred by a person, out of his or her own money, for meals and lodging while travelling for referendum purposes, if the expenses are not reimbursed to him or her;

  • the transportation costs of a person, paid out of his or her own money, if the costs are not reimbursed to him or her;

  • the cost of the food and beverages served at a political activity where the cost is included in the entrance fee paid by participants;

  • the reasonable expenses incurred for the publication of explanatory commentaries on the Act and the regulations thereunder, provided the commentaries are strictly objective and contain no publicity of such a nature as to favour or oppose an option submitted to a referendum;

  • the reasonable ordinary expenses incurred for the day-to-day operations of not more than two permanent offices of an authorized party the addresses of which are entered in the registers of the Chief Electoral Officer;

  • interest accrued from the beginning of the referendum period to the day occurring 90 days after polling day, on any loan lawfully granted to an official agent for regulated expenses, unless paid for and declared as a regulated expense in the regulated expenses report;

  • the expenses incurred for the holding of meetings, the total of which does not exceed $600 for the entire referendum period, including the renting of halls and the convening of participants, provided the meetings are not directly or indirectly organized on behalf of a national committee;

  • the remuneration paid to a representative of the candidate.

  Limit [R.A., s. 36-37] [Special Version of E.A., s. 426, 404(10)]
  
  

• The official agent, his or her deputy or the local agent must not pay the cost of a regulated expense except out of a special fund called the "referendum fund".

• Only the following amounts must be paid into the referendum fund:

  • the subsidy, which must be the same for all committees, as established by the National Assembly at the time it adopts the text if a question or bill that is to be submitted to the referendum and sent to the official agent by the Minister of Finance;

  • the amounts transferred or loaned to such fund by the official representative of a political party, provided that the total sum of the amounts so transferred and loaned does not exceed 50¢ per elector in the aggregate of the electoral divisions;

  • the contributions directly paid by an elector out of his or her own property.

• Expenses must be limited so as never to exceed for a national committee $1.00 per elector for all the electoral divisions.

• An authorized non-affiliated elector can incur regulated publicity expenses, provided the total of which does not exceed $1 000 for the entire referendum period, to advocate abstention or the spoiling of ballots.

Reporting [Special Version of E.A., s. 434-435, 437]

• The official agent of each national committee and, through him or her, each local agent he or she has appointed must, within 90 days after polling day, deliver to the Chief Electoral Officer a return of the regulated expenses incurred or authorized by them.

• The return must indicate the name, the complete address of the domicile of, and the amount paid by, each elector whose total contribution to a national committee exceeds $200.

• The Chief Electoral Officer must publish a summary of the returns of regulated expenses within 60 days after the expiry of the time prescribed for their filing.

• The official agent and the local agent must indicate in the returns the source of the sums paid into the referendum fund put at their disposal; the financial institutions with which the sums collected by the national committee have been deposited and the account numbers used; the total amount of contributions of $200 or less; the total amount of contributions of over $200; and the total of the amounts transferred or loaned by the official representative of an authorized party.

Contributions

Definition [T.P.A., s. 18(1)]

• The Election Finances Act applies, with necessary modifications, in respect of a referendum campaign unless the context requires otherwise.

Limit [T.P.A., s. 13(1)]

• No person or entity must contribute more than $7 500, multiplied by the indexation factor determined under the Election Finances Act, to one or more campaign organizers who are soliciting votes in favour of the same result or are promoting the same result in a referendum.

Expenses

Definition [T.P.A., s. 18(1)]

• The Election Finances Act applies, with necessary modifications, in respect of a referendum campaign unless the context requires otherwise.
  

Limit [T.P.A., s. 16(1)-(2), 16(4)]

• No campaign organizer (or a person or entity acting on behalf of one) must incur campaign expenses in an electoral district that exceed the amount that is the aggregate of 60¢, multiplied by the indexation factor, for each of the eligible voters in the electoral district (as certified by the Chief Election Officer).

• In such northern electoral districts as may be prescribed, the amount calculated above is increased by $7 000, multiplied by the indexation factor.

• The Lieutenant Governor in Council may by regulation prescribe northern electoral districts.

Reporting [T.P.A., s. 17]

• Within six months after the referendum is held, the chief financial officer for a registered campaign organizer must file the following documents with the Chief Election Officer:

  • the campaign organizer's financial statements with respect to the referendum campaign;

  • the information regarding contributions that exceed $25 in the aggregate and the information, including the name and address, of individuals or entities whose contributions in the aggregate exceed $100 in connection with the campaign;

  • the auditor's report on the financial statements and on the information required above.

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