First Session, 48th

General Assembly

65 Elizabeth II,

BILL 57

AN ACT TO AMEND THE MUNICIPAL

ELECTIONS ACT

Received and Read the First Time .................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ..........................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE EDDIE

JOYCE

Minister of Municipal

Affairs

Ordered to be printed by

the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Municipal Elections Act to

provide that contributions of

goods and services are accounted for in municipal election campaigns; and

provide for the method of

valuing contributions of goods and services.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS ACT

Analysis

S.67 Amdt.

Regulations

Ss.67.1 and 67.2 R&S

67.1 Campaign

contributions

67.2 Monetary contributions

67.3 Contributions of goods

or services

67.4 Records

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

SNL2001 cM-20.2

as amended

Section 67 of the Municipal Elections Act is amended by adding immediately after

subsection (3) the following:

(4) For the purpose of this

section and

section

67.1, a "contribution" means a contribution of money, goods or

services, but does not include the

donation by a natural person of his or her personal services, talents or expertise

or the use of his or her vehicle where it is given freely and not as part of

his or her work in the service of an employer.

2. Sections 67.1 and 67.2 of the Act are repealed

and the following substituted:

Campaign contributions

67.1

(1) Contributions

to candidates shall be made only by natural persons individually, or by

corporations or trade unions, individually.

(2) Only a candidate or his or her agent may

solicit, collect or accept contributions.

(3) A contribution to a candidate that is made by

a person in a calendar year in an amount that does not exceed the amount prescribed

in a regulation under subsection 67(1) or, where there is no regulation, $100,

is not a contribution for the purpose of this section.

Monetary contributions

67.2

(1) Money

contributed to a candidate in an amount exceeding the amount prescribed in a

regulation under subsection 67(1) or, where there is no regulation, $100, shall

be made only

(

a) by a cheque that has the name of the

contributor printed legibly on it and that is signed by the contributor and

drawn on an account in the contributor's name;

(

b) by a money order that identifies the name of

the contributor; or

(

c) in the case of a contribution by an individual

by the use of a credit card, if that credit card has the name of the individual

contributor imprinted or embossed on that card,

and that contribution shall not be

accepted unless the contribution is made in accordance with this subsection.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where money in

an amount exceeding the amount prescribed in a regulation under subsection

67(1) or, where there is no regulation, $100, is anonymously contributed to a

candidate, that money shall not be utilized by the candidate in the election

but shall be paid to the council and used to offset the costs of the election.

Contributions of

goods or services

67.3

(1) The

value of goods or services contributed to a candidate is

(

a) if the contributor is in the business of

supplying those goods or services, the lowest amount charged by the contributor

for an equivalent amount of the same goods or services at or about the time and

in the market area in which the goods or services are contributed; and

(

b) if the contributor is not in the business of

supplying those goods or services, the lowest amount charged, at or about the

time the goods or services are provided, by another person who provides the

same goods on a commercial retail basis or services on a commercial basis in

the market area in which the goods or services are contributed.

(2) Where goods or services in an amount exceeding

the amount prescribed in a regulation under subsection 67(1) or, where there is

no regulation, $100, are anonymously contributed to a candidate, those goods or

services shall not be utilized by the candidate in the election.

(3) For greater certainty, where an employee

spends time working for a candidate for which he or she is compensated by his

or her employer and the employer is not a candidate, the value of that compensation

is a contribution of the employer for the purpose of

section 67.

Records

67.4 A

statement filed under a regulation made under subsection 67(1) or, where there

is no regulation, under paragraph 67(3)(

a) or (

b) shall be considered to be an

official record of the municipality and, upon request, shall be made available

for inspection by members of the public.

Queen's Printer