Status of Political Financing Files from the 43rd General Election – CEO Appearance on Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response)

Key Messages

• In response to COVID-19, Elections Canada focused on providing political entities as much flexibility as possible to allow them to comply with the Canada Elections Act.
• These changes include providing sufficient time to entities to file their returns.
• Reimbursements were issued to eligible political entities by the end of October 2020.

Facts

*Note prepared with data as of June 7, 2021*

• To date, Elections Canada has received the majority of returns from the 43rd general election:
  • We have received:
    • 96% of candidate returns
    • 86% of party electoral returns (18 of 21 registered parties)
      • Missing documentation from the United Party of Canada, Stop Climate Change and Progressive Canadians. All three party have been deregistered.
    • 93% of third party returns
• Ahead of the 43rd general election, Elections Canada made changes to its audit process to adopt a risk-based methodology. Only a subset of returns will be selected for a full audit, based on risk factors (including the overall money spent during the campaign).
• Work to complete audits of candidate returns within 12 months has been challenging.
  • The deadline for filing the candidate returns was February 21, 2020. Only 52% of returns were received by that date. Elections Canada has received 915 requests for an extension.
  • At present, Elections Canada has completed 86% of scheduled audits (all types) and is targeting June 30, 2021 to complete all audits.
  • At the end of February 2021, Elections Canada had completed 82% of full and limited audits of returns received by the statutory deadline of February 21, 2020 (as of the update, Elections Canada had completed 97%).
• In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Elections Canada has:
  • Facilitated deadline extensions for candidates and third parties. The Chief Electoral Officer reconsidered extensions from February 21, 2020, for those entities who had already requested and received approval for a deadline extension, to June 30, 2020.
  • Implemented a mechanism, under way from August 2020 to the end of October 2020, to accelerate reimbursements to eligible campaigns. These reimbursements were made prior to the completion of an audit.
  • Recommended to Electoral District Associations (EDAs) expecting delays due to COVID-19 to apply for an extension ahead of the annual filing deadline. Extensions were granted to July 31, 2020.
  • Adjusted our business processes for EDAs, including a simplified process to request an extension and an alternative to a signature for the annual update to the Registry.
• These adjustments have been communicated to political entities on the Elections Canada website, on social media and through regular channels.