Limitation of expenditures other than election expenses
50(1)Expenditures other than election expenses incurred by registered political parties, registered district associations or registered independent candidates for advertising on broadcasting undertakings or in newspapers, periodicals or other printed matter shall be limited so as not to exceed:
(a)
in the case of a registered political party, $200,000 in each calendar year;
(a.1)
in the case of a registered district association, $3,000 in each calendar year;
(a.2)
in the case of a registered political party and its registered district associations, an aggregate amount of $200,000; and
(b)
in the case of a registered independent candidate, $3,000 in each calendar year.
50(2)Subsection (1) does not apply to expenditures incurred by registered political parties, registered district associations or registered independent candidates for advertising on broadcasting undertakings or in newspapers, periodicals or other printed matter if such advertising is limited to:
(a)
publicizing the date, time, place and subject matter of a public meeting organized by a registered political party, registered district association or registered independent candidate and an advertisement described in this paragraph may include a photo of a guest speaker and
(i)
if a registered political party is responsible for organizing the public meeting, the name, short-form name, abbreviation or logo of the party, or
(ii)
if a registered district association is responsible for organizing the public meeting, the name, short-form name or abbreviation of the district association or the logo of the party; and
(b)
publicizing any corrections to an advertisement described in paragraph (
a).
50(3)Subsection (1) does not apply to expenditures incurred by registered political parties, registered district associations or registered independent candidates for
(a)
the cost of postage for the mailing of letters, printed material and cards, including Christmas cards,
(b)
the production and distribution of
(i)
newsletters distributed solely to members of a registered political party, and
(ii)
Christmas cards, and
(c)
the publication in a newspaper of season’s greetings, congratulatory messages or best wishes for community events.
50(4)Each of the maximum amounts referred to in subsection (1) shall be adjusted on January 1, 2018, and on January 1 of every succeeding year, by multiplying the amount by the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period ending on the 30th day of September before that year bears to the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period that ended on September 30, 2017.
50(5)If an amount calculated under subsection (4) is not a multiple of one dollar when adjusted as provided in this section, it shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of one dollar or, if it is equidistant between two consecutive multiples, to the higher multiple.
50(6) In this section, the Consumer Price Index for Canada for any 12-month period is the result arrived at by
(a)
aggregating the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the
Statistics Act (Canada) for each month of that period,
(b)
dividing the aggregate obtained under paragraph (
a) by 12, and
(c)
rounding the result obtained under paragraph (
b) to the nearest thousandth or, if the result obtained is equidistant between two consecutive thousandths, to the higher thousandth.
1994, c.53, s.5; 2009, c.55, s.12; 2017, c.28, s.23