RULES CHANGE FOR CANDIDATES

Candidates for the Oct. 22 municipal election are facing a slew of rule changes. According to Chuck Scarpelli, the city’s manager of records and elections, recent changes Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act will mean:

The nomination period has been dramatically narrowed. The time when a candidate could register as a candidate used to start on the first business day in January and run until September. Now it starts May 1 and ends on July 27 at 2 p.m.

Candidates are now required to provide signatures of 25 voters supporting their nomination.

The maximum campaign contribution has jumped to $1,200 from $750. Contributions can be made until the end of the campaign period on Dec. 31, 2018.

Unions and corporations can no longer contribute to a campaign. Only individuals or the actual candidate can contribute to campaigns.

But unions, corporations and individuals can become “registered third parties,” which can pay for third-party advertising supporting a candidate or opposing a candidate. The candidate can’t be involved in these third parties, which can accept contributions (up to a maximum of $1,200) from individuals, corporations or unions.

A registered third party has to register at the municipality’s clerk’s office between May 1 and Oct. 19.

The act also now allows municipalities to adopt a ranked balloting system, but Windsor city council and almost every other municipal council in the province opted not to.