Third-party advertisers must start disclosing spending

OTTAWA— Starting Sunday, Canadians will begin to see which third-party groups will be spending money to sway their votes in the upcoming federal election.

As of June 30, groups that aren’t political parties but want a say in the fall campaign will need to register with Elections Canada if they spend more than $500 on political activities, and file interim disclosure forms once they raise or spend more than $10,000.

Groups such as Engage Canada and Shaping Canada’s Future stole the spotlight this month with duelling ads during the NBA Finals (Engage Canada attacked the Conservatives; Shaping Canada’s Future went after Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau), while groups such as Canada Proud will probably be spending big soon.

But more than half the over $6 million directly spent on electioneering by third parties in the 2015 election was shelled out by the top 10 organizations, most of which are unions.

Those tallies are just for the 78-day election period in 2015. Now, new rules on advertising disclosure will show how much groups are spending in the months before the campaign officially begins.

Bill C-76, the election-reform law passed by Parliament in December, sets limits for third parties of just over $1 million in the “pre-writ period,” and about $500,000 in the election period. In any given electoral district though, those limits are $10,000 and $5,000.

At least one union group will be trying to reach that limit, and has already spent on ads prior to the start of the pre-election period.

“We’re all in,” said Jerry Dias, national president of Unifor, the country’s largest privatesector union.

“We’re entitled to spend $511,000 in the writ period — we’re going to spend $511,000” he added. “There is no question, we will be very aggressive.”

An outspoken critic of conservative politicians both federally and provincially, Dias said his focus will be on supporting Liberal or NDP candidates and incumbents in winnable ridings.