Period for providing documents

(3) The chief agent of a registered party shall provide the documents referred to in subsection (1) to the Chief Electoral Officer within six months after the polling day for the general election.

Auditor's report on return on election expenses

430. (1) As soon as practicable after a general election, the auditor of a registered party shall report to its chief agent on its return on general election expenses and shall make any examination that will enable the auditor to give an opinion in the report as to whether the report presents fairly and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles the information contained in the financial records on which the return is based.

Statement

(2) An auditor shall include in the report under subsection (1) any statement the auditor considers necessary if

    (a) the return that is the subject of the report does not present fairly the information contained in the financial records on which the return is based;

    (b) the auditor has not received from registered agents or officers of the party all the required information and explanation; or

    (c) based on the examination, it appears that proper accounting records have not been kept by the registered party.

Right of access

(3) The auditor for a registered party shall have access at any reasonable time to all documents of the registered party, and may require the registered agents and officers of the party to provide any information or explanation that, in the auditor's opinion, may be necessary to enable the auditor to prepare the report.

Prohibi-
tions - true and complete returns

431. No chief agent of a registered party shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with a return on the registered party's general election expenses that

    (a) the chief agent knows or ought reasonably to know contains a materially false or misleading statement; or

    (b) does not substantially set out the information required by subsection 429(2).

Corrections and Extended Reporting Periods

Minor corrections - Chief Electoral Officer

432. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer may correct a document referred to in subsection 424(1) or 429(1) if the correction does not materially affect its substance.

Corrections at request of Chief Electoral Officer

(2) The Chief Electoral Officer may in writing request a registered party to correct, within a specified period, a document referred to in subsection 424(1) or 429(1).

Extension or correction - Chief Electoral Officer

433. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer, on the written application of the chief agent of a registered party or, if there is no chief agent, its leader, may authorize

    (a) the extension of a period provided in subsection 424(4) or 429(3); or

    (b) the correction, within a specified period, of a document referred to in subsection 424(1) or 429(1).

Deadline

(2) An application may be made

    (a) under paragraph (1)(a), within the period provided in subsection 424(4) or 429(3), as the case may be; and

    (b) under paragraph (1)(b), as soon as the applicant becomes aware of the need for correction.

Grounds

(3) The Chief Electoral Officer may not authorize an extension or correction unless he or she is satisfied by the evidence submitted by the applicant that the circumstances giving rise to the application arose by reason of

    (a) the absence, death, illness or misconduct of the chief agent or a predecessor;

    (b) the absence, death, illness or misconduct of a registered agent of the registered party or of an agent, a clerk or an officer of the chief agent, or a predecessor of one of them; or

    (c) inadvertence or an honest mistake of fact.

Extension or correction - judge

434. (1) The chief agent of a registered party or, if there is no chief agent, its leader, may apply to a judge who is competent to conduct a recount for an order

    (a) relieving the party from complying with a request referred to in subsection 432(2); or

    (b) authorizing an extension referred to in paragraph 433(1)(a) or correction referred to in paragraph 433(1)(b).

The applicant shall notify the Chief Electoral Officer of the application.

Deadline

(2) An application may be made

    (a) under paragraph (1)(a), within the specified period referred to in subsection 432(2) or within the two weeks after the expiration of that period; or

    (b) under paragraph (1)(b), within two weeks after, as the case may be,

      (i) the rejection of an application, made in accordance with section 433, for the extension or correction, or

      (ii) the expiration of the extended period or specified period authorized under paragraph 433(1)(a) or (b).

Grounds

(3) A judge may not grant an order unless he or she is satisfied that the circumstances giving rise to the application arose by reason of one of the factors referred to in paragraph 433(3)(a) to (c).

Contents of order

(4) An order may require that the applicant satisfy any condition that the judge considers necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Date of authorization

(5) For the purposes of this Act, an extension or correction referred to in subsection (1) is authorized on the date of the order or, if the order specifies that conditions are to be met, the date as of which the applicant has met them.

Reimbursement of Election Expenses

Certificate

435. (1) On receipt from a registered party of the documents referred to in subsection 429(1), the Chief Electoral Officer shall provide the Receiver General with a certificate that sets out the amount that is 22.5% of the registered party's election expenses that were paid by its registered agents as set out in the return for its general election expenses, if

    (a) the Chief Electoral Officer is satisfied that the registered party and its chief agent have complied with the requirements of sections 429 to 434;

    (b) the auditor's report does not include a statement referred to in subsection 430(2); and

    (c) candidates endorsed by the registered party received at least

      (i) 2% of the number of valid votes cast at the election, or

      (ii) 5% of the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts in which the registered party endorsed a candidate.

Reimburse-
ment

(2) On receipt of the certificate, the Receiver General shall reimburse the amount set out in it to the registered party by paying that amount out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

DIVISION 4

Financial Administration of Candidates

Powers, Duties and Functions of Official Agent

Duty of official agent

436. The official agent of a candidate is responsible for administering the candidate's financial transactions for his or her electoral campaign and for reporting on those transactions in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Bank account

437. (1) An official agent of a candidate shall open a separate bank account in a Canadian financial institution as defined in section 2 of the Bank Act, or in an authorized foreign bank as defined in that section, that is not subject to the restrictions and requirements referred to in subsection 524(2) of that Act.

Account holder and year of opening

(2) The account must indicate the date on which it was opened and name the account holder as follows: ``(name of official agent), official agent for (name of candidate, year)''.

Payments and receipts

(3) All financial transactions of the candidate in relation to an electoral campaign that involve the payment or receipt of money are to be paid from or deposited to the account.

Closure of bank account

(4) The official agent of a candidate shall close the account after the election or the withdrawal or death of the candidate, and the subsequent disposal of any surplus of electoral funds in accordance with this Act.

Final statement of bank account

(5) The official agent shall, on closing the account, provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the final statement of the account.

Prohibition - making contributions

438. (1) No person or entity, other than an electoral district association or a registered party, shall make

    (a) a contribution to a candidate's electoral campaign that comes from money, property or the services of another person or entity; or

    (b) a loan to a candidate's electoral campaign that comes from money of another person or entity.

Prohibition - accepting contributions

(2) No person, other than an official agent of a candidate, shall accept contributions to the candidate's electoral campaign.

Prohibition - issuing tax receipts

(3) No person, other than an official agent of a candidate, shall provide official receipts to contributors of monetary contributions to a candidate for the purpose of subsection 127(3) of the Income Tax Act.

Prohibition - paying electoral expenses

(4) No person or entity, other than the official agent of a candidate, shall pay expenses in relation to the candidate's electoral campaign except for petty expenses referred to in section 411 and the candidate's personal expenses.

Prohibition - incurring electoral expenses

(5) No person or entity, other than a candidate, his or her official agent or a person authorized under paragraph 446(c) to enter into contracts, shall incur expenses in relation to the candidate's electoral campaign.

Prohibition - candidate's personal expenses

(6) No person, other than a candidate or his or her official agent, shall pay the candidate's personal expenses.

Exception

(7) Subsection (4) or (5), as the case may be, does not apply to a registered agent of a registered party who pays or incurs expenses in relation to the electoral campaign of the leader of the registered party.

Notice of Nomination Meeting

Limits on expenses

439. (1) The amount that may be spent on providing notice of meetings that are to be held during an election period for the principal purpose of nominating a candidate for an election in an electoral district cannot be more than 1% of the maximum election expenses

    (a) that were allowed for a candidate in that electoral district during the immediately preceding general election, if the boundaries for the electoral district have not changed since then; or

    (b) that the Chief Electoral Officer determines, in any other case.

Prohibition on official agents, candidates and authorized persons

(2) No candidate, official agent of a candidate or person who is authorized under paragraph 446(c) to enter into contracts shall incur or cause to be incurred expenses on account of notices referred to in subsection (1) that are in excess of the amount determined under that subsection.

Election Expenses Limit

Maximum election expenses allowed

440. The election expenses limit that is allowed for a candidate's election expenses in an electoral district is the product of the base amount for an electoral district determined under section 441 and the inflation adjustment factor referred to in section 414 as of the day of the issue of the writ.

Base amount of expenses

441. (1) The base amount of a candidate's election expenses in an electoral district is the aggregate of the following amounts, based on the number of electors on the preliminary lists of electors for the electoral district or on the revised lists of electors for the electoral district, whichever is greater:

    (a) $2.07 for each of the first 15,000 electors,

    (b) $1.04 for each of the next 10,000 electors, and

    (c) $0.52 for each of the remaining electors.

Less than average population districts

(2) If the number of electors on the preliminary lists of electors for an electoral district is less than the average number of such electors for all electoral districts in a general election or, in the case of a by-election, in the immediately preceding general election, then, for the purpose of subsection (1), the number of electors is deemed to be the number that is half-way between the number referred to in that subsection and that average number.

Low population-
density districts

(3) If the number of electors per square kilometre on the preliminary lists of electors for an electoral district is less than 10, the base amount for that electoral district is increased by the lesser of $0.31 per square kilometre and 25% of the base amount.

Death of candidate of registered party

(4) If a candidate for an electoral district whose nomination was endorsed by a registered party dies in the period beginning at 2:00 p.m. on the 5th day before the closing day for nominations and ending on polling day, the base amount for that electoral district is increased by 50%.

Estimated expenses

442. (1) On October 15 in each year, the Chief Electoral Officer shall calculate the maximum amount referred to in section 440 for each electoral district, based on the lists of electors in the Register of Electors, as if an election were then to be held.

Availability of estimates

(2) The maximum amount for an electoral district must be sent

    (a) to any person on request; and

    (b) to the member and each registered party that endorsed a candidate in the electoral district in the last election, together with the copy of the lists of electors referred to in subsection 45(1).

Maximum amount not guaranteed

(3) The maximum amount calculated under subsection (1) is an estimate and, as such, may be increased or decreased for an electoral district in the subsequent election period.

Prohibition - expenses more than maximum

443. (1) No candidate, official agent of a candidate or person authorized under paragraph 446(c) to enter into contracts shall incur election expenses in an amount that is more than the election expenses limit calculated under section 440.

Prohibition - collusion

(2) No candidate, official agent of the candidate, person authorized under paragraph 446(c) to enter into contracts or third party, within the meaning given that expression by section 349, shall collude with each other for the purpose of circumventing the election expenses limit calculated under section 440.

Recovery of Claims

Claim for payment

444. (1) A person who has a claim to be paid for an expense in relation to an electoral campaign shall send the invoice or other document evidencing the claim to

    (a) the candidate's official agent; or

    (b) the candidate, if there is no official agent.

Bar to recovery

(2) A claimant is barred from recovery of a claim to be paid if the invoice or other document evidencing the claim is sent more than three months after

    (a) the day set for polling day; or