Site MenuPolitical Financing Handbook for Registered Parties and Chief Agents (EC 20231) – April 2019 – draft guideline OGI 2019-06
This document is Elections Canada's draft guideline OGI 2019-06.
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11. Interacting with Third Parties in the Pre-election and Election Periods
This chapter outlines what registered parties should take into consideration from a political financing perspective when interacting with third parties in the pre-election period and election period. It covers the following topics:
- What is a third party?
- What is collusion?
- Prohibition on colluding with third parties during a pre-election period
- Prohibition on colluding with third parties during an election period
Note: This chapter applies only to the pre-election and election periods, but registered parties should be mindful of how they interact with third parties at all times to avoid accepting possibly ineligible contributions. See Activities conducted by others in coordination with the party may be contributions in Chapter 2, Contributions.
What is a third party?
A third party is generally a person or group that wants to participate in or influence elections other than as a political party, electoral district association, nomination contestant or candidate. The term has different legal definitions in the pre-election period and election period, as explained in the prohibition sections below.
What is collusion?
The Canada Elections Act sets rules on how registered parties can interact with third parties during a pre-election period or election period. It prohibits collusion with a third party.
Collusion is generally an agreement made between two or more people or groups to achieve an objective prohibited by law. The agreement does not have to be made in writing, and may be express or implied.
Prohibition on colluding with third parties in relation to a pre-election period
During a pre-election period, a third party is a person or group other than a:
- registered or eligible party
- registered association
- potential candidate
- nomination contestant
A registered party must not collude with a third party:
- for the purpose of circumventing the registered party's partisan advertising expenses limit, or
- to influence the third party in its partisan activities, its partisan advertising or its election surveys conducted during a pre-election period
See Chapter 7, Partisan Advertising Expenses for the Pre-election Period, for more information on the pre-election period and partisan advertising rules.
Note: Influencing a third party in its activities, advertising and surveys includes sharing information with the third party.
Examples
- A registered party releases a promotional video on YouTube about its position on a particular issue. During the pre-election period, it sends an email to third parties with an interest in that issue, suggesting that they promote the video in their general communications. As a result, one of the third parties posts a link to the video on its social media accounts. This is collusion to influence a third party's partisan activities and is an offence under the Canada Elections Act.
- A third party is planning to conduct a telephone survey with voters during the pre-election period. It asks the registered party it supports for a list of the most competitive ridings, so that it knows where to target the calls. The registered party cannot provide such a list to the third party because the information is not publicly available. This would be collusion to influence a third party's election survey and is an offence under the Canada Elections Act.
Prohibition on colluding with third parties in relation to an election period
During an election period, a third party is a person or group other than a:
- registered party
- electoral district association of a registered party
- candidate
A registered party must not collude with a third party:
- for the purpose of circumventing the registered party's election expenses limit, or
- to influence the third party in its partisan activities, its election advertising or its election surveys conducted during an election period
Note: Influencing a third party in its activities, advertising and surveys includes sharing information with the third party.
Examples
- The head of outreach for a third party and the national director of a registered party meet for coffee a few weeks before the election period and have an informal conversation about strategy. The third party commissions a media buy for the election that supports the registered party and reflects many points from this conversation. This is collusion to influence the third party in its election advertising because the registered party's national director should have known how the information might be used.
- During the election period, an individual visits a registered party's website and watches a video about the party's platform. She decides to post a link to the video for free from her social media account. This is not collusion because the registered party did not ask its website viewers to share the video.