An individual, corporation or trade union must register with the municipal clerk to be a third party advertiser in a municipality. Third parties can register in any lower-tier or single-tier municipality (city, town, township, etc.). Third parties cannot register in an upper-tier municipality (a region or county).

Being registered in a municipality allows the third party to advertise to the voters in that municipality. A third party advertiser can support or oppose any candidate or candidates who will be voted on by the people in that municipality. This includes candidates running for local council, school trustee and candidates running for offices on an upper tier council.

Third party advertisers do not need to decide before they register which candidate or candidates they want to support or oppose, and they do not have to tell the clerk what their intentions are.

A third party can only advertise to voters in the municipality where they are registered. There is no limit on the number of municipalities where a third party can register. If a third party wants to advertise to voters in more than 1 municipality they must register in each municipality where they wish to advertise.

For example, if a third party wanted to advertise for or against a candidate running for an office that is voted on by people in more than 1 municipality, such as a school trustee or regional chair, they would need to register in each municipality.

Deadline to register

An individual, corporation or trade union can register to be a third party advertiser beginning on May 1, 2018, and can file a registration until the close of business on Friday, October 19, 2018.

Where to register

Starting on April 19, 2021, clerks can choose to allow registrations to be filed electronically. If your municipality allows electronic filing, contact the clerk for more information about how to register. 

If electronic filing is not allowed in your municipality, an individual or a representative of a corporation or trade union must file a Notice of Registration (Form 7) with the municipal clerk in person or by an agent. It must have an original signature – the form may not be a copy, and may not be scanned and submitted electronically. There is no registration fee.

The municipal clerk must be satisfied that that the individual, corporation or trade union is eligible in order to certify the registration, and may require that identification or additional documents be provided.

A person who is filing as the representative of a corporation or a trade union should make sure that they can provide proof that they are authorized to act on the corporation or trade union’s behalf.

Changing your mind

Withdraw your registration 

If you want to end your advertising campaign before voting day, you can withdraw your registration by notifying the clerk in writing. The deadline to withdraw your registration is:

  • the Friday before voting day for a regular election 
  • the last day the clerk’s office is open prior to voting day for a by-election

Become a candidate

If you are a registered third party advertiser and decide to become a candidate instead, your third party advertising campaign automatically ends when you file your nomination to become a candidate. 

You must keep your advertising campaign separate from your candidate campaign. This means: 

  • you cannot transfer any contributions or expenses from your advertising campaign to your candidate campaign 
  • you must file a financial statement for your advertising campaign
  • you must file a separate financial statement for your candidate campaign.

For more information about running for office, please see the candidates’ guide.

Registering in more than 1 municipality

If a third party advertiser registers in more than 1 municipality, each of those registrations is considered to be a separate advertising campaign. Once they register, they must keep each advertising campaign separate, and ensure that they follow the rules in each municipality where they are registered:

  • The identification required on signs, advertisements and other materials must indicate that the third party is registered in that municipality.
  • There must be a separate bank account for each campaign.
  • Contributions may not be shared between the advertising campaigns – if a contributor has given money to the advertising campaign in municipality A, that money cannot be used to fund expenses in municipality B.
  • If the third party wants to use the same signs or the same advertisement in more than 1 municipality, the separate advertising campaigns can produce a “joint” advertisement. The advertisement would indicate that the third party is registered in both municipality A and municipality B, and each advertising campaign would pay for its share of the expense for the advertisement.
  • The third party must file a separate financial statement in each municipality where they were registered. The financial statement must reflect the financial activities relating to advertising in that municipality.