Political Financing Handbook for Candidates and Official Agents (EC 20155) – April 2024

2. Starting and Closing the Candidate's Campaign

This chapter describes the steps to start and close a candidate's campaign. It covers the following topics:

• Starting the candidate's campaign
• Roles and appointments—official agent and auditor
• Closing the candidate's campaign

Starting the candidate's campaign

The steps to starting the candidate's campaign are presented below in their most common order. Some steps are mandatory and have to be done before others.

1. Appoint official agent and auditor

The candidate must appoint an official agent before doing any of the following:

• accepting a contribution, loan or transfer
• incurring an electoral campaign expense
• filing their nomination paper

The candidate can appoint an auditor right away, but it is not a requirement. An auditor must be appointed without delay after:

• contributions totalling $10,000 or more are accepted
• electoral campaign expenses totalling $10,000 or more are incurred, or
• the candidate receives 10% or more of the valid votes cast in their electoral district

2. File nomination paper

The candidate's nomination paper must be filed in person with the returning officer or through the Political Entities Service Centre no later than 2:00 p.m. (local time) on the 21st day before election day. Information on the nomination process is available on the Elections Canada website.

3. Open bank account

The official agent has to open a separate bank account to be used exclusively for the candidate's campaign. This could happen before or after the candidate's nomination is confirmed or before an election is called. Note that the requirement to open a bank account exists whether or not there are financial transactions.

The account has to be with a Canadian financial institution or an authorized foreign bank, as defined by the Bank Act.

The official agent must be named as the account holder, as follows: (name), official agent. For example: "Peter Raymond, official agent". It is also acceptable to add the candidate's name to the name of the bank account. For example: "Peter Raymond, official agent for Anne Thomas".

All monetary transactions in relation to the campaign have to go through the campaign bank account, except when litigation or personal expenses (within certain limits) are paid directly by a person or group using non-campaign funds (see chapters 10 and 12).

Keep a copy of all bank statements, either paper or digital, for submission to Elections Canada after the election.

The bank account has to remain open until the campaign fulfills all financial obligations.

Note: The Access to Banking Services by a Candidate's Official Agent package, available on the Elections Canada website, provides information and a template memorandum from the candidate to facilitate opening a campaign bank account.

4. Establish internal controls for election expenses

The official agent must provide written authorization to the candidate and others before they can incur election expenses.

The campaign will need an expense approval process to monitor election expenses and ensure that the limit is not exceeded. A campaign budget will also help to manage finances effectively.

5. Start incurring expenses and accepting contributions, loans or transfers

The campaign can start incurring expenses and accepting contributions, loans or transfers before the election is called as long as the campaign has an official agent and a bank account.

Keep in mind that tax receipts cannot be issued for contributions received before the candidate's nomination is officially confirmed by the returning officer. The candidate must wait until the election is called to submit their nomination paper to the returning officer. See "How to Become a Candidate" on the Elections Canada website.

Role and appointment process—official agent

Candidate's official agent

Role and appointment process—auditor

Candidate's auditor

*Provincially or territorially legislated accounting bodies may require auditors to meet other professional criteria in order to perform this role, such as holding a public accounting licence in the province or territory where the political entity is based. This should be discussed with the auditor before the appointment.

Closing the candidate's campaign

The steps to closing the candidate's campaign are presented below in their most common order. Some steps may have to be done more than once.

1. Fulfill reporting obligations

The candidate's campaign must fulfill all reporting obligations before it can close the campaign.

See the Reporting obligations after election day and Additional reporting tables in Chapter 17, Reporting.

2. Receive reimbursements and subsidies

Elections Canada administers certain funds that are distributed after election day to eligible candidates. These include:

• reimbursement installments of paid election expenses and certain other expenses
• payment of the auditor's subsidy directly to the auditor

See Chapter 18, Reimbursements and Subsidies.

3. Manage unpaid claims and loans

Claims and loans must be paid within 36 months after election day, and an updated candidate's return must be submitted within 30 days after the final payment of a claim or loan.

If a claim or loan is still unpaid 36 months after election day, the official agent has to seek authorization from Elections Canada or a judge before paying it.

See Chapter 19, Managing Unpaid Claims and Loans.

4. File amended return(s)

An amended candidate's return has to be filed with Elections Canada to correct errors or omissions, or to report new transactions. Corrections or revisions might be requested by Elections Canada, or by the candidate or official agent.

See the Additional reporting table in Chapter 17, Reporting.

5. Dispose of surplus

After all financial obligations have been met, the campaign must dispose of any surplus of funds and fulfill the surplus reporting obligations. The process for disposing of the surplus depends on whether the candidate was endorsed by a registered party or ran as an independent or non-affiliated candidate.

See Chapter 20, Disposing of Surplus.

6. Close bank account

Once all unpaid claims, loans, other financial obligations and any surplus have been dealt with, the official agent has to close the campaign bank account. If the campaign will be receiving expense reimbursements or an audit subsidy, do not close the bank account until these and all other financial transactions are complete.

The official agent has to send the final bank statement to Elections Canada.

Note: A candidate who is confirmed by a returning officer but later withdraws from the election, whether before or after the official deadline, must fulfill all reporting and other financial obligations to close their campaign. A candidate who was never confirmed has no reporting or financial obligations.

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