Annual Report on Election Finances January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011
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Annual Report on Election Finances January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer Annual Election Finances Report 2011 1 Introduction This report summarizes the financial activities of the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Progressive Conservative Party for the period January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. This report also summarizes the financial activity of candidates and political parties relating to the by- election in the electoral district of Humber West (held on February 15, 2011). The original of this report has been forwarded to the Queen’s Printer for reproduction purposes and availability to the public. A copy has been supplied to the Legislative Librarian for further reference by Members of the House of Assembly. Summary information is also available for viewing on the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website at www.elections.gov.nl.ca. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 2 Annual Election Finances Report 2011 History of Election Finance Legislation The Elections Act, 1991 (Act), which was passed by the House of Assembly in June 1992, provided for the comprehensive regulation of financing by political parties, district associations and non-affiliated candidates in elections. Part III of the Act dealing with Election Finances was proclaimed into force on October 1, 1993, but pertained only to registered political parties and registered candidates in elections. Initially, it was intended that experience with election finance regulation of political parties would be evaluated before proclaiming Part III to pertain to district associations. This partial proclamation necessitated an amendment to Part III in December 1993 in the form of a transitional provision that treated all candidates in an election as if they were non-affiliated candidates. On January 26, 1996, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador issued a policy statement, with the agreement of all political parties, which placed further restrictions on district association activities during the 1996 General Election campaign period. Significant amendments to the Act received Royal Assent on June 5, 1998 to take effect on September 3, 1998. The most significant of the new amendments from an Election Finance perspective was the removal of annual contribution limits for individuals and corporations who wish to donate to a political cause. Also, the amended Act is no longer applicable to the operation of local political district associations. The Act places the onus on the various political parties for controlling and reporting on the financial activity of their district associations with respect to political fundraising by requiring all such funds to be channelled through the political party accounts. Further amendments to the Act, which affected certain provisions of Part III dealing with election finances, received Royal Assent on June 14, 2007. These provisions changed the official length of time for a campaign period to end four months from polling day as opposed to the previous six month period; increased the candidate nomination fee deposit to $200 from $100; and made refund of the nomination fee contingent on timely filing of election finance reports as opposed to the previous process where refund of the nomination fee deposit was contingent on a candidate receiving at least 15 per cent of the popular vote in their district. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer Annual Election Finances Report 2011 3 Election Finance Compliance ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Under Part III of the Act, registered political parties are subject to fund raising guidelines and to the public disclosure of their financial affairs in the form of an annual filing of audited financial statements. The deadline for filing annual Political Party statements is legislatively set at April 1 of the year following the year to which they relate. The three political parties registered with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (OCEO) at the beginning of the 2011 calendar year filed the required audited financial statements pertaining to 2011 and their financial statements have been certified by the Chief Electoral Officer as having met the requirements of the Act. The Progressive Conservative Party filed the required financial package by the April 1, 2012 deadline. The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party were granted extensions to the deadline for various reasons and it was determined that they did not involve willful intent or neglect on the part of their Chief Financial Officers. Appendix A of this report presents a summary of the annual financial statement information provided by the parties for 2011. The actual financial statements on which this summary is based may be viewed at the OCEO during normal business hours. BY-ELECTION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Section 304 of the Act requires candidates in a by-election and political parties that received contributions or made expenditures in relation to the by-election to file with the OCEO a financial statement of income and expenses relating to the by-election within four months of polling day. There were three candidates for the 2011 Humber West by-election resulting in a total of four separate filings for the by-election. Appendix B of this report presents a summary of the information contained in the income and expenditure statements provided by the candidates relating to the Humber West by-election. The actual financial statements on which this summary is based may be viewed at the OCEO during normal business hours. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 4 Annual Election Finances Report 2011 BY-ELECTION EXPENDITURE LIMITS Section 310 of the Act places a limitation on the amount of certain election expenses permitted by political parties and candidates in an election or by-election. These limits are established for each electoral district based on the number of eligible voters on the official voter list used for the election multiplied by an inflation adjusted factor per voter. For the 2011 Humber West by-election, the inflation adjusted factor was $4.083 per voter. Expenditure limits pertaining to the by-election were as follows: Humber West 8,410 voters X 4.083 = $34,338 Election expenditure limits apply only to certain types of expenditures made by a campaign. These limits are not applicable to amounts spent by candidates on their own or their spouses’ travel or other personal living expenses; to amounts spent on wrap-up or election night thank-you parties; to amounts transferred to candidates and from political parties under certain provisions of the Act or to other expenses that are not directly related to contesting of the election. The reason for excluding certain expenses from campaign expenditure limits is rooted in the principle of fairness and the goal to create as level a playing field as possible for all candidates. For example, a candidate who maintains a permanent residence in a particular district would likely incur less travel and living expenses than a candidate who does not live in the district and would obtain an obvious spending advantage if the travel expenses of the candidate who was required to travel further or more frequently were subject to the districts election expense limits. All filings for the 2011 Humber West by-election were within the expenditure limits established as outlined above (See Appendix B). Office of the Chief Electoral Officer Annual Election Finances Report 2011 5 BY-ELECTION SUBSIDY If a candidate in an election receives at least 15 per cent of the popular vote cast in their district they are entitled to a subsidy reimbursement calculated to be 1/3 of their eligible allowable campaign expenses up to a maximum of 1/3 of their district expenditure limit. For the Humber West by-election, a total of $19,013 in campaign subsidies was paid out as follows: - Vaughn Granter Campaign $10,927 - Mark Watton Campaign $ 8,086 In addition to the campaign expense subsidy payable to candidates, the Chief Electoral Officer also subsidizes the cost of auditor services to candidates to a maximum amount of $500 per campaign paid directly to a candidate’s auditors. The total auditor subsidy amount paid to auditors for candidates in the by-elections was $1,500. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 6 Annual Election Finances Report 2011 CAMPAIGN SURPLUS Subsection 313(1) of the Act, requires that a campaign surplus created either from political contributions, expense subsidies or other income sources permitted by the Act, be remitted to the appropriate party if a candidate’s political affiliation appears on the ballot or, in the case of a non- affiliated candidate, to the Chief Electoral Officer who shall hold the money in trust on behalf of the non-affiliated candidate and pay it out as follows: If the person on whose behalf money is held in trust under Subsection 313(1) becomes a candidate, either in a by-election called before the next general election or in the next general election, the money held in trust for the person shall be paid to him or her for the purpose of contesting the election. If that person does not become a candidate in either a by-election called before the next general election or in the next general election, the Chief Electoral Officer shall remit the money on deposit to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Surplus calculated and paid to the political parties for the Humber West by-election was as follows: Vaughn Granter (PC) $8,962 Mark Watton (Lib) $6,184 POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS - ANNUAL Subsection 299(3) of the Act requires that a registered political party shall file, along with the annual financial statements required under Section 303 of the Act, a listing with respect to contributions received in the year that either individually or in sum exceeds $100 together with the name and address of the contributor(s). Appendix C of this report contains a comprehensive listing of contributions to the reporting parties made during the period covered by the report.