Expense Limits for the 2022 General Local Elections Available
Expense limits for the 2022 General Local Elections are now available on the Elections BC website.
All candidates have expense limits that apply during the campaign period. The campaign period for the 2022 General Local Elections is September 17, 2022, to October 15, 2022. Each election area and office has its own limit, which is based on the office and population of the election area. These limits apply to the 2022 General Local Elections and all subsequent by-elections.”
Elections BC Guide for Candidates and Financial Agents
Elections BC’s Guide to Local Elections Campaign Financing in BC for Candidates and their Financial Agents may be accessed online here. If you would like to request a hard copy of the guide, please contact Elections BC at 1-800-661-8683 or electionsbc@elections.bc.ca.
Changes in the Election Rules
As a result of the Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act, 2021 (Bill 9), new campaign financing and advertising rules are in place and apply to the 2022 General Local Elections. A summary of the new rules affecting elector organizations may be found here: Other changes are summarized on the Elections BC website.
2022 General School Election: Nominators
BCSTA has previously been asked whether the chief election officer (“CEO”) has a duty to verify that nominators are qualified in accordance with section 86(3) of the Local Government Act (“LGA”) to nominate candidates for the office of school trustee.
Section 86(3) of the LGA, read in conjunction with the School Act, provides that in order to be qualified as a nominator, a person must be an elector of the trustee electoral area for which the nomination is made.
Section 87 of the LGA sets out the requirements for nomination documents. Section 87(1)(e) provides that a nomination must include “the names and residential addresses of the nominators, and if a nominator is a non-resident property elector, the address of the property in relation to which the nominator is such an elector.” Nominators are not required to declare that they are qualified, or to provide evidence in support of their qualification. For example, a person signing nomination papers as a non-resident property elector is not required to submit a title search as proof of their ownership of property within the trustee electoral area. A person signing nomination papers as a resident elector is not required to submit proof of residency.
Challenges to a nomination may be brought under section 91 of the LGA by an elector, by another nominee or by the CEO. An elector or another nominee could challenge a nomination if upon reviewing nomination documents they had reason to believe that the nominators were not qualified. The CEO is only obligated to initiate a challenge to a nomination in the limited circumstance where the person nominated is on the disqualification list (LGA s. 91(5)).
In summary, the LGA does not impose a duty on the CEO to independently verify that nominators are qualified. The purpose of providing for public inspection of nomination documents, and for permitting nomination challenges by electors and other nominees, is to allow for challenges where other interested persons have reason to believe that the statutory requirements for nomination of a candidate have not been met, including on the grounds that a nominator is not qualified.
Disclaimer: This bulletin provides general information and should not be relied upon as legal advice.
