are ontario's municipal campaign spending limits too low?
5 minute read
chad bowie is the founder of the bowie group and the president of the canadian council of campaign consultants, which would like to see higher spending limits for municipal election campaigns. the current limitations disadvantage non-incumbents, who don't have name recognition, bowie argues.
jean levac
/
postmedia
spending limits for municipal elections are “dangerously low,” according to a newly-formed association of campaign professionals.
strict spending limits “fall far short of what is required to run a competitive, modern campaign,” according to the canadian council of campaign consultants, which argues that the existing spending limits stifle diverse political participation and limits candidates’ ability to effectively communicate with voters.
meanwhile, incumbent candidates benefit because they already have name recognition. challengers get little attention and voters are left with fewer opportunities to hear alternative perspectives, said the organization, which is calling on provincial governments across the country to conduct a review of election spending limits.
where candidates are constrained by unreasonably low spending limits, it becomes nearly impossible for challengers to introduce themselves to voters, let alone compete with established incumbents, canadian council of campaign consultants president chad bowie said.
“campaigns need resources to get materials produced and to get eyeballs on it. we have to acknowledge that this is a problem.”
how much money do candidates have to spend on their campaigns? in ontario, it depends on the office they’re aiming for and how many voters there are in their ward or municipality.
campaign contributions include money, goods or services that are given to a candidate to use in their campaign, including money and goods that a candidate contributes to themselves, according to the city of ottawa.
ontario municipal candidates are subject to a spending limits formula set out ontario’s municipal elections act. the formula combines a base amount with an additional dollar amount for every eligible elector in the ward.
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for example, mayoral candidates are limited to $7,500, plus 85 cents per elector qualified to vote for mayor. candidates for city councillor are limited to $5,000, plus 85 cents for every qualified elector. third-party advertisers are limited to a $5,000 plus five cents for every eligible voters to a maximum of $25,000.
there’s a separate spending limit for celebrations and other expressions of appreciation after the close of voting: 10 per cent of the candidate’s general spending limit, to a maximum of $2,500.
the problem for managers is that campaign are intensive work for a short period of time, said sam o’grady, who has worked on municipal, provincial and federal campaigns. targeted social-media campaigns can be expensive, she said. it’s hard to find inexpensive real commercial space for a short-term lease. and finding a skilled campaign manager means that they have to quit their full-time job.
bowie argues spending limits should protect against undue influence, but not at the cost of limiting democratic choice. democracy depends on robust competition and informed voters, he said.
for a mayoral race in the city of ottawa, campaign money is spread out over a geographic area including urban, suburban and rural areas and over traditional media as well as social media. candidates can craft their own messages for social media, but mail is seeing a resurgence, he said. getting campaign materials in the mail tends to stick in a voter’s mind.
“my approach, personally, is that i want to be everywhere there are voters,” said bowie, who has no clients in the current ottawa municipal races, but has clients in two mayoral campaigns in b.c.
“you can’t send a letter for less than 60 cents. that doesn’t even count the cost of printed materials.”
emrys graefe is the campaign manager for alex lawson, a first-time candidate for ottawa mayor. he’ll know the official spending limit in september, but at this point he expects the limit will be somewhere between $650,000 and $750,000.
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“if you look at federal and provincial local campaigns, which typically last around a month and the spending limit is around $100,000, it’s comparable.” (provincial and federal elections are of a shorter duration, hence the difference. registration for candidates in this year’s municipal election opened on may 1, with voting to take place oct. 26. )
graefe doesn’t believe the spending limits are too low.
“if you look at past mayoral campaigns in ottawa, nobody spends the full campaign limit,” he said.
however, the rules favour incumbents in other ways, graefe contends. mayor mark sutcliffe has said he will run for mayor, but did not register as a candidate until several weeks after the opening day. graefe said this gave sutcliffe “all the resources of his office, and none of the rules of a candidate” before he applied.
candidates in ontario can only accept contributions from people who are normally residents of ontario. the candidate and their spouse can also contribute. candidates can’t accept money from a federal or provincial political party, constituency association or candidate endorsed by that party, a corporation that carries on business in ontario, a trade union that holds bargaining rights for employees in ontario, the crown in right of canada or ontario, a municipality or a local board.
ottawa has a program in which those who contribute to a participating candidate’s campaign may receive a portion of their contribution back in the form of a rebate. the contribution must be at least $25.01 to be eligible, and the candidate must participate in the program.
last year, alberta overhauled its election laws to allow corporate and union campaign donations.
“we’re not advocating for that,” bowie said.
the edmonton journal noted that success in edmonton’s 2025 civic election was not particularly linked to the size of a candidate’s war chest. the well-funded tim cartmell mayoral campaign was defeated by opponent andrew knack, who spent only a fraction of the cartmell campaign. eight out of 12 races for ward councillor were won by candidates who had been outspent by at least one opponent.
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meanwhile, some jurisdictions have tried other approaches to get voters engaged in municipal elections.
in 2015, seattle voters passed campaign finance reforms, including one that allows the seattle ethics and elections commission to distribute “democracy vouchers” to eligible residents. the voucher can be given to finance campaign activities for a participating candidate. last year, seattle voters approved a property tax of $4.5 million per year to fund the voucher program for 10 years.
lyra evans, who has registered to run as a candidate for councillor in rideau-vanier and says she wouldn’t be surprised if she got close to her spending limit of $5,000, plus 85 cents for each of the 34,574 electors in the ward.
she calls the voucher system an interesting alternative.
“it’s a more egalitarian way to fund campaigns. there are better ways to engage in democracy and to be more equitable about campaign funding.”
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