Advertising during the federal election

With the announcement of a federal election on April 28, 2025, it is important for companies to observe the Canada Elections Act (the Act) and the restrictions imposed on activities, such as partisan and election advertising, other partisan activities and election surveys conducted during an election period.

What you need to know

• Regulated activities include partisan activities, election advertising and election surveys conducted during the election period.
• Third parties that incur $500 or more in expenses associated with regulated activities must register with the Chief Electoral Office.
• Expenses incurred conducting regulated activities must be capped at $350,000 during the election period.
• Failure to comply with the Act may result in significant fines and jail.

Who is affected and what activities are regulated?

A third party is defined broadly to include any person or group that is not a candidate, a potential candidate, a registered party or an electoral district association of a registered party¹. A third party will be required to register with Elections Canada if it incurs expenses of $500 or more for conducting regulated activities.

Regulated activities during an election period include election advertising, election surveys (which are conducted to assist in the transmission of election or partisan advertising) and partisan activities that identify a party or a candidate².

Election advertising

Election advertising, which takes place during the election period, is the public transmission of an advertised message that promotes or opposes a party or a candidate, including by taking a position on an issue with which a registered party or candidate is associated. Certain activities are exempted from the definition of “election advertising”, such as (1) the transmission of editorials, speeches or interviews; (2) the distribution of books that were planned regardless of the election; or (3) an individual transmitting personal political views on the internet or encouraging electors to vote³.

Any issue mentioned by the party or candidate in a platform, debate or social media campaign could be viewed as being associated with a party or candidate. The concept of “issue advertising” has been much contested over the years, as many have complained that its definition is overly broad. The Supreme Court of Canada, in Harper v. Canada (Attorney General), held that the scope of what constitutes issue advertising, while broad, is not unconstitutionally vague⁴. As such, advertising messages transmitted during the election period may engage the advertising rules even if the issue being addressed seems apolitical.

With this in mind, third parties that wish to advertise during an election period will need to consider whether their advertising could be perceived as taking a position on an issue that is associated with a party or a candidate.

Obligations in conducting regulated activities

The first obligation on a third party who engages in a regulated activity (whether in the pre-election or election period) and reaches the expense threshold of $500 is to register with Elections Canada. Once registered, the third party becomes subject to several requirements—the most important being a cap on expenses incurred for regulated activities. Expenses caught under this cap include the market value of goods, labour or services.

Although the maximum for pre-election period expenses is capped at $700,000⁵, the maximum for election period expenses is capped at $350,000⁶. The Act provides for this amount to be adjusted for inflation.

In the case of a general election that is not held on the day established by Parliament, such as is the case this year, the third party will be deemed to not have incurred a partisan activity expense, an election advertising expense or an election survey expense if, once the election is called, the third party is unable to cancel the activity, the transmission or the advertising⁷.

Registered third parties are also subject to other obligations, such as mandatory name placement⁸, the appointment of an auditor should expenses exceed $10,000⁹ and the filing of third-party expense returns¹⁰.

Consequences of breaching the Act

There are many offences under the Act relating to election advertising and, depending on the offence, may result in fines and or imprisonment. Of particular concern for compliance purposes are the offenses related to “collusion”. The Act provides that a third party who collaborates (or, as referred to in the Act, “colludes”) with another third party to circumvent the regulated activities expense limit may be liable for fines of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years.

For this reason, any third party who collaborates or discusses election advertising with another party while conducting its own advertising campaign should be particularly sensitive to the legislative requirements.

Implications of prorogation to tabled changes to the Elections Canada Act

In March 2024, the then-Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic Leblanc, tabled Bill C-65: An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (Bill 65) in the House of Commons. Bill 65 proposed to amend the Act to, among other things, protect against foreign interference in Canada’s federal elections. For example, third parties would be required to receive and pay for regulated activities only using contributions received from Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Third parties wishing to use their own funds in addition to any contributions would have new rules to ensure such funds are not an indirect avenue for foreign contributions.

As discussed in our bulletin on the effects of prorogation, Bill 65 is now terminated and must be reintroduced in the new session of Parliament (or brought back by the unanimous consent of the House of Commons). Stakeholders should continue to monitor the progress of the government’s previous legislative proposals, especially if the Liberal Party of Canada forms the next government. To the extent the amendments proposed in Bill 65 are re-introduced (or brought back by unanimous consent) and receive Royal Assent, they will have significant implications for third-party financing, contributions, partisan and election advertising, and the processing of personal information by political parties.

Other considerations

The Supreme Court of Canada recently invalidated Ontario's spending limits on third-party political advertising in Ontario (Attorney General) v. Working Families Coalition (Canada). While not directly relevant to restrictions under the Act, the decision could be relevant to any potential future challenges to the Act’s constitutionality. For more analysis about the Supreme Court of Canada decision, consult our bulletin.