Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9)

Marginal note:Destruction of documents — judge

• 476.89 (1) A nomination contestant or their financial agent may apply to a judge for an order relieving the financial agent from the obligation to provide a document referred to in subsection 476.75(1), (10), (11), (12) or (15). The applicant shall notify the Chief Electoral Officer that the application has been made.

• Marginal note:Grounds

  (2) The judge may grant the order only if the judge is satisfied that the applicant cannot provide the documents because of their destruction by a superior force, including a flood, fire or other disaster.

• Marginal note:Date of relief

  (3) For the purposes of this Act, the applicant is relieved from the obligation referred to in subsection (1) on the date of the order.

Marginal note:Prohibition — false or misleading declaration

476.891 No nomination contestant shall send to their financial agent a declaration referred to in paragraph 476.75(1)(d) that they know or reasonably ought to know is false or misleading.

Marginal note:Prohibition — false, misleading or incomplete document

476.9 No financial agent of a nomination contestant shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with a document referred to in subsection 476.75(1), (10), (11), (12) or (15) that

• (a) the financial agent knows or ought reasonably to know contains a material statement that is false or misleading; or

• (b) in the case of a document referred to in paragraph 476.75(1)(a), does not substantially set out the information required under subsection 476.75(2) and, in the case of a document referred to in subsection 476.75(10), (11), (12) or (15), does not substantially set out the information required under that subsection.

Payment of Audit Expenses

Marginal note:Certificate

• 476.901 (1) On receipt of the documents referred to in subsection 476.75(1), including the auditor’s report, and a copy of the auditor’s invoice for the report, the Chief Electoral Officer shall provide the Receiver General with a certificate that sets out the greater of

  • (a) the amount of the expenses incurred for the audit, up to a maximum of the lesser of 3% of the nomination contestant’s nomination contest expenses and $1,500, and

  • (b) $250.

• Marginal note:Payment

  (2) On receipt of the certificate, the Receiver General shall pay the amount set out in it to the auditor out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

• Marginal note:Inflation adjustment factor

  (3) The $1,500 amount set out in paragraph (1)(a) and the $250 amount set out in paragraph (1)(b) shall be multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor referred to in section 384 that is in effect on the selection date.

Surplus of Nomination Campaign Funds

Marginal note:Surplus of nomination campaign funds

• 476.91 (1) The surplus amount of nomination campaign funds that a nomination contestant receives for a nomination contest is the amount by which the sum of the following is more than the sum of the contestant’s nomination campaign expenses paid from the bank account referred to in subsection 476.65(1) and any transfers referred to in paragraph 364(5)(a):

  • (a) contributions accepted by the financial agent on behalf of the contestant;

  • (b) money received from the sale referred to in subsection (2); and

  • (c) any other amounts received by the contestant for their nomination campaign that are required to be deposited into the bank account referred to in subsection 476.65(1) and are not repayable.

• Marginal note:Sale of capital assets

  (2) Before the surplus amount of nomination campaign funds is disposed of in accordance with sections 476.92 and 476.93, a nomination contestant’s financial agent shall sell, at their fair market value, any capital assets whose acquisition constitutes a nomination campaign expense.

Marginal note:Notice of estimated surplus

• 476.92 (1) If the Chief Electoral Officer estimates that a nomination contestant has a surplus of nomination campaign funds, the Chief Electoral Officer shall issue a notice of the estimated amount of the surplus to the contestant’s financial agent.

• Marginal note:Disposal of surplus funds

  (2) The nomination contestant’s financial agent shall dispose of a surplus of nomination campaign funds within 60 days after the day on which they receive the notice of estimated surplus.

• Marginal note:Disposal without notice

  (3) If a nomination contestant has a surplus of nomination campaign funds but their financial agent has not received a notice of estimated surplus, the financial agent shall dispose of the surplus within 60 days after the day on which the Chief Electoral Officer is provided with the contestant’s nomination campaign return.

Marginal note:Method of disposal of surplus

476.93 A nomination contestant’s financial agent shall dispose of surplus nomination campaign funds by transferring them to

• (a) the official agent of the candidate endorsed by the registered party in the electoral district in which the nomination contest was held; or

• (b) the registered association that held the nomination contest or the registered party for whose endorsement the contest was held.

Marginal note:Notice of disposal of surplus

• 476.94 (1) A nomination contestant’s financial agent shall, within seven days after disposing of the contestant’s surplus nomination campaign funds, give the Chief Electoral Officer a notice in the prescribed form of the amount and date of the disposal and to whom the surplus was transferred.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (2) As soon as feasible after the disposal of a nomination contestant’s surplus nomination campaign funds, the Chief Electoral Officer shall publish the notice in any manner that he or she considers appropriate.

DIVISION 5Candidates

SUBDIVISION AOfficial Agent and Auditor

Marginal note:Deeming

477 For the purposes of Division 1 of this Part and this Division, except sections 477.89 to 477.95, a candidate is deemed to have been a candidate from the time they accept a provision of goods or services under section 364, accept a transfer of funds under that section, accept a contribution, borrow money under section 373 or incur an electoral campaign expense within the meaning of subsection 375(1).

Marginal note:Duty to appoint official agent

• 477.1 (1) A candidate shall appoint an official agent before accepting a provision of goods or services under section 364, accepting a transfer of funds under that section, accepting a contribution, borrowing money under section 373 or incurring an electoral campaign expense within the meaning of subsection 375(1).

• Marginal note:Appointment of auditor

  (2) A candidate shall appoint an auditor without delay if

  • (a) they accept contributions of $10,000 or more in total;

  • (b) they incur electoral campaign expenses of $10,000 or more in total; or

  • (c) they receive 10% or more of the valid votes cast in the electoral district in which they are a candidate.

Marginal note:Official agent — ineligibility

477.2 The following persons are ineligible to be an official agent:

• (a) an election officer or a member of the staff of a returning officer;

• (b) a candidate;

• (c) an auditor appointed as required by this Act;

• (d) a person who is not an elector;

• (e) an undischarged bankrupt; and

• (f) a person who does not have full capacity to enter into contracts in the province in which they ordinarily reside.

Marginal note:Auditor — eligibility

• 477.3 (1) Only the following are eligible to be an auditor for a candidate:

  • (a) a person who is a member in good standing of a corporation, association or institute of professional accountants; or

  • (b) a partnership of which every partner is a member in good standing of a corporation, association or institute of professional accountants.

• Marginal note:Auditor — ineligibility

  (2) The following persons are ineligible to be an auditor:

  • (a) an election officer or a member of the staff of a returning officer;

  • (b) the candidate or any other candidate;

  • (c) the official agent of the candidate or any other candidate;

  • (d) the chief agent of a registered party or an eligible party;

  • (e) a registered agent of a registered party;

  • (f) an electoral district agent of a registered association;

  • (g) a leadership contestant and their leadership campaign agent;

  • (h) a nomination contestant and their financial agent; and

  • (i) a financial agent of a registered third party.

Marginal note:If partnership appointed as auditor

477.4 Subject to sections 477.2 and 477.3, a person may be appointed as official agent or auditor for a candidate even if the person is a member of a partnership that has been appointed in accordance with this Act as an auditor for

• (a) a candidate in an electoral district other than the electoral district of the candidate for whom the appointment is being made; or

• (b) a registered party.

Marginal note:Consent

477.41 A candidate shall obtain from the official agent or auditor, on appointment, their signed consent to act in that capacity.

Marginal note:Replacement of official agent or auditor

477.42 In the event of the death, incapacity, resignation or ineligibility of an official agent or an auditor, or the revocation of the appointment of one, the candidate shall without delay appoint a replacement.

Marginal note:Only one official agent and auditor

477.43 A candidate shall have no more than one official agent and one auditor at a time.

Marginal note:Prohibition — official agents

• 477.44 (1) No person who is ineligible to be an official agent of a candidate shall act in that capacity.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — auditor

  (2) No person who is ineligible to be an auditor of a candidate shall act in that capacity.