Campaign period
The campaign period runs from the date you file your papers until Dec. 31, 2026.
By law, candidates have to follow certain rules in how they spend and fundraise for their election campaign, including:
- Opening a dedicated bank account for all campaign activity;
- Keeping detailed and accurate records of everything you spend and receive;
- Staying within your office’s spending limits;
- Only accepting donations from people who are legally allowed to donate to you;
- Not accepting more than someone is legally allowed to give you and,
- Filing a complete and accurate campaign financial statement after the election with the City Clerk.
If a candidate has a deficit by the end of their campaign period, they can file a form with the City Clerk requesting a 6-month extension. Extensions have to be requested before the standard campaign period ends.
Once a campaign ends, a candidate should close their campaign bank account and prepare their campaign financial statement.
Donation limits
Candidates can only accept personal donations from Ontario residents. Corporations, trade unions, businesses, groups and non-Ontario residents can’t donate to candidates.
Candidates and third-party advertisers can’t accept donations that are:
- From an ineligible or anonymous source
- More than $1,200 to them, or would result in the donor giving more than $5,000 total to candidates running for City Council or the same school board
- From funds that don’t belong to whoever gave them
- Made outside their campaign period
- Made in cash and are greater than $25
If a candidate or third-party advertiser accepts a donation that they later learn isn’t allowed, they have to return it. If they don’t know where the donation came from or how to return it, they have to give it to the City of Quinte West.
Donations over $100
Candidates have to disclose the name and address of every person who donates more than $100 ($100.01+) to their campaign in their post-election financial statement.
Campaign financial statements
Every candidate has to file a post-election financial statement with the City Clerk outlining what they spent and received toward their campaign (even if they withdrew their registration and had no financial activity).
For the 2026 Municipal Election, all financial statements are due by 2 p.m. on March 30, 2027.
This should reflect all of their financial activity from the day they registered up to the end of the campaign period.
If they extend their campaign, they still have to file a financial statement by the above deadline. But they also have to prepare a second financial statement that’s been updated to reflect any spending or fundraising during those extra months when they were trying to erase their deficit.
Campaign financial statements are public records and are posted at the City Clerk’s Office and on quintewestvotes.ca.
Late statements
Candidates and third-party advertisers who don’t file their campaign financial statement by the deadline can still file their statement within 30 days, but have to pay the City a $500 late fee.
If they don’t file a campaign financial statement by the end of the 30-day late period (and haven’t applied to Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice for an extension), automatic penalties apply, including:
- Removal from their office (if they were elected); and,
- Disqualification from running for any municipal council or district school board office in Ontario until after the next regularly scheduled election has taken place.
Compliance audits
A Quinte West voter who believes that a Quinte West City Council candidate or a third-party advertiser has broken a campaign finance rule can request an audit of the campaign’s financial records through the City’s Joint Compliance Audit Committee. Compliance audit requests are accepted by writing an application and must outline reasons and evidence for why the requester believes the law was broken.
After the statutory filing deadline for campaign financial statements, the City Clerk reviews the individual donations disclosed by each candidate and third-party advertiser in the election. If it appears that someone has donated more to a Quinte West City Council candidate, group of Quinte West City Council candidates, or third-party advertiser than the law allows, this is reported to the City’s Joint Compliance Audit Committee.
The Committee will review each case of a possible campaign finance infraction and decide whether to investigate and take legal action against the candidate, third-party advertiser, and/or donor.
Election signs
No election signs can be displayed before Nomination Day (Aug. 21, 2026). Please consult the municipal election sign by-law (PDF) for detailed information on rules and regulations around campaign signs.
