Site MenuIntroduction – Third Party Report – A Comparative Look at Third Party Information from the 2011, 2015 and 2019 Federal General Elections
Third parties have been subject to federal election law since 1974. Their activities during elections are regulated differently from those of other political entities such as candidates and political parties. With varied internal structures and electoral aims, third parties as a group can be difficult to understand. Their regulation has also changed: new legislation in 2019 covered more types of third party activities over a longer period. The continued goal of the legislation is to balance electoral fairness, on the one hand, with electoral participation and free speech, on the other.
This report gives an overview of third parties at this interesting time in their evolution: who they are, how they are funded, how much they spend, and what kinds of activities they are spending on. The information presented comes from data collected from the 41st to 43rd Canadian federal general elections, which took place in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Data sources and limitations
Data presented in this report have limitations that stem from various factors. The data should be used with caution and only as a way to observe general trends.
The primary source of data is third party electoral campaign returns, which are published on the Elections Canada website. Third parties must send Elections Canada an electoral campaign return no later than four months after election day. The return details contributions received and expenses incurred for regulated activities. Above a certain spending threshold, the return must be accompanied by an auditor's report.
Some non-financial data were taken from the searchable Third Party Database on Elections Canada's website. The database provides basic information on all registered third parties by electoral event.
In total, 55 returns were submitted for the 2011 election, 115 for the 2015 election, and 142 for the 2019 election. Some third parties did not submit their campaign returns, and their financial data are not included in this report. At the time of writing, nine third parties had not filed their return for the 2019 election.
This report uses data as submitted to Elections Canada by third parties. Internal reviews for omissions, data entry errors or misclassified expenses are ongoing for 2019 and are not reflected here. Some data elements were adjusted to more accurately and consistently present the data before they were included in the dataset.