Municipal election race starts today
It may be overshadowed by provincial races at the moment, but the 2018 municipal election season officially gets underway today.
Candidates who want to run for a municipality or school board can file their nomination papers May 1 to July 27.
And for the first time, individuals, corporations and trade unions that want to back a candidate can register as a third-party advertiser following recent changes to the Municipal Elections Act.
Local clerks have spent months brushing up on the new rules and pulling together candidate information for the Oct. 22 election.
“We’re as ready as we’re going to be in St. Catharines. We wel-
come people to come in to our counter,” said St. Catharines city clerk Bonnie Nistico-Dunk, chair of the Niagara area clerks election task force.
She said some people have picked up forms or made appointments to talk about what they need to do to run.
“We have candidate registration packages we’ve been working on for several months, making sure that we meet the legislative portions,” she said.
“Plus just general, really good information for candidates who are considering running.”
New for this 2018 election:
The position of Niagara Region chair will be on the ballot;
Candidates must gather endorsements from 25 eligible voters, except for school board trustee candidates;
Third-party advertising, which is paid advertising that supports or opposes a candidate, is allowed;
• Area clerks must review all campaign finances after the election.
Election staff from Niagara Region and all 12 lower-tier municipalities have worked together to present www.niagaravotes.ca — a one-stop shop for people interested in running for office anywhere in Niagara. The partnership is the first of its kind.
The website has key dates and links to municipalities’ election websites so candidates know what’s expected of them.
That’s particularly important for anyone running for regional chair because it’s the first time a candidate will be running across multiple borders.
“If you’re interested in running for the regional chair’s position, you may want all the sign bylaws across the whole of Niagara,” Nistico-Dunk said. “You can get them from that site.”
Candidates can download municipal nomination papers from the Niagara Votes website or pick them up in person at their municipal or regional clerk’s office.
Nomination papers for mayor, regional councillor, municipal councillor and school board trustee positions must be filed with the appropriate municipal clerk.
Papers for the regional chair position must be filed with the regional clerk’s office.
Third-party advertisers must register in the municipality in which they plan to advertise, whether they’re using paid social media, websites, newspapers, TV, radio or billboards and signs. They must register before they spend money or accept contributions.
Nistico-Dunk said a candidate can’t direct third-party advertising.
“It’s totally independent of the candidate.”
Third-party advertising doesn’t count towards a candidate’s spending limit but does have a cap. In St. Catharines, it’s just more than $9,800.
Nistico-Dunk said said she doesn’t know what the uptake for third-party advertising will be and it will be interesting to see what happens.
“I’m sure there will be more of an uptake in 2022 than this election simply because it’s so new and people aren’t really understanding what it is yet.”
Nistico-Dunk is encouraging everyone to make sure they’re on the voters list well ahead of time by going to www.voterlookup.ca. If residents can’t find their names, they should call their local clerk’s office immediately.
“It will just save us so much time on election day and on advanced polls to have all this done.”