Rules for Third Party Advertising

Have something to say? Know the rules.

Municipal election law sets out certain rules for third party advertisers.

All third party advertisers are to include identifying information on all of their advertisements, including:

• Their legal name;
• The municipality where they are registered; and,
• A phone number, email address, or mailing address where they can be contacted.

Outside of the above, there are no other content requirements or restrictions imposed by municipal election law on third party advertisements.

Third party advertisers are subject to many of the same spending limits and financial reporting rules as candidates. Third party advertisers can’t spend any money towards political advertising until after they register and open a campaign bank account. They have to limit their spending to a defined amount and file a post-election financial statement reflecting their advertising activities during the campaign period.

If a third party advertiser registers in more than one municipality, they have to keep each advertising campaign separate.

For example, if the third party advertiser receives donations towards their campaign in Municipality A, they can’t use those funds to cover expenses for their campaign in Municipality B. The third party advertiser also has to file separate financial statements in each municipality where they have registered.