Third-Party Advertisers

Only those who have registered can incur expenses on third-party advertising. The following are eligible to register as a third-party advertiser:

• any person who is a resident in Ontario
• a corporation carrying on business in Ontario
• a trade union that holds bargaining rights for employees in Ontario

If two or more corporations are owned or controlled by the same person or people, or if one corporation controls another, they are considered to be a single corporation. If the same person or people own or control multiple corporations, only one of those corporations may register to be a third-party advertiser in a municipality.

There is no restriction against family members or campaign staff of candidates registering to be third-party advertisers. However, third-party advertising must not be done under the direction of a candidate. If a person with close ties to a candidate wants to register, they should consider how these activities may look to the public and how they would be able to demonstrate that they were not working in co-ordination with the candidate.

A candidate who has filed a nomination for any municipal council or school board office cannot register to be a third-party advertiser in any municipality.

Groups, associations or businesses that are not corporations are not eligible to register and may not spend money on third-party advertising in municipal elections. For example, neighbourhood associations, clubs or professional associations that are not corporations cannot register and cannot make contributions to third-party advertisers. Members may register as individual third-party advertisers and may contribute individually.

Federal and provincial political parties cannot register to be third-party advertisers. Political parties are not permitted to be financially involved in municipal elections.