Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9)

SUBDIVISION CPersonal Information Collected by Political Parties

446.1 [Repealed, 2026, c. 2, s. 48]

Marginal note:Purpose

446.2 The purpose of the provisions of this Act related to the protection of personal information, including the provisions of this subdivision, is to provide for a national, uniform, exclusive and complete regime applicable to registered parties and eligible parties respecting their activities in relation to personal information, including the collection, use, disclosure, retention and disposal of personal information.

Marginal note:Activities in relation to personal information

446.3 In order to participate in public affairs by endorsing one or more of its members as candidates and supporting their election, any registered party or eligible party, as well as any person or entity acting on the party’s behalf, including the party’s candidates, electoral district associations, officers, agents, employees, volunteers and representatives, may, subject to this Act and any other applicable federal Act, carry out any activities in relation to personal information, including the collection, use, disclosure, retention and disposal of personal information in accordance with the party’s policy for the protection of personal information.

Marginal note:Provincial or territorial Act

• 446.4 (1) When participating in public affairs by endorsing one or more of its members as candidates and supporting their election, a registered party or eligible party, as well as any person or entity acting on the party’s behalf, including the party’s candidates, electoral district associations, officers, agents, employees, volunteers and representatives, cannot be required to comply with an Act of a province or territory that regulates activities in relation to personal information, including the collection, use, disclosure, retention and disposal of personal information, unless the party’s policy for the protection of personal information provides otherwise.

• Marginal note:For greater certainty

  (2) For greater certainty, the registered party, eligible party or person or entity acting on the party’s behalf cannot be required to provide access to personal information or provide information relating to personal information under its control or to correct — or receive, adjudicate or annotate requests to correct — personal information or omissions in personal information under its control.

Marginal note:Policy for the protection of personal information

• 446.5 (1) A registered party or eligible party, as well as any person or entity acting on the party’s behalf, including the party’s candidates, electoral district associations, officers, agents, employees, volunteers and representatives, must comply with the party’s policy for the protection of personal information.

• Marginal note:Clarification

  (2) For greater certainty, a person or entity referred to in subsection (1) that fails to comply with the policy referred to in that subsection contravenes that subsection and commits a violation referred to in section 508.1.

Marginal note:Required contents

• 446.6 (1) The policy for the protection of personal information of a registered party or of an eligible party must be publicly available in both official languages, be written in plain language and

  • (a) designate a privacy officer who is responsible for overseeing the party’s compliance with the policy;

  • (b) include the name and contact information of the privacy officer;

  • (c) state the types of personal information in relation to which the party carries out its activities;

  • (d) explain, using illustrative examples, how the party carries out its activities in relation to personal information, such as by indicating whether it does so online or through the use of cookies;

  • (e) describe the training related to the protection of personal information that is offered to the party’s employees and volunteers who may have access to the personal information that is under its control; and

  • (f) require the party to protect the personal information that is under its control through physical, organizational and technological security safeguards with a level of protection proportionate to the sensitivity of the personal information;

  • (g) require the party to take appropriate steps in the case of the loss of, unauthorized access to or unauthorized disclosure of personal information that is under its control as a result of a breach of its security safeguards, including by, as soon as feasible, informing the individual whose personal information has been lost, accessed or disclosed if it is reasonable in the circumstances to believe the breach creates a real risk of significant harm to the individual;

  • (h) require the party to ensure, by contract or otherwise, that any person or entity to which it transfers personal information provides a level of protection of the personal information equivalent to that which the party is required to provide under the policy;

  • (i) require the privacy officer or their delegate to attend at least one meeting per calendar year relating to the protection of personal information held by the Chief Electoral Officer; and

  • (j) prohibit the party, as well as any person or entity acting on the party’s behalf, including the party’s candidates, electoral district associations, officers, agents, employees, volunteers and representatives, from

    • (i) providing false or misleading information to individuals about the purposes for which the party collects personal information,

    • (ii) selling personal information under the party’s control, or

    • (iii) disclosing personal information under the party’s control to the public for the purpose of causing harm.

• Marginal note:Real risk of significant harm — factors

  (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g), the factors that are relevant to determining whether a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm to an individual include

  • (a) the sensitivity of the personal information involved in the breach; and

  • (b) the probability that the personal information has been, is being or will be misused.

• Marginal note:Definition of significant harm

  (3) For the purposes of this section, significant harm includes bodily harm, humiliation, damage to reputation or relationships, loss of employment, business or professional opportunities, financial loss, identity theft, negative effects on the credit record and damage to or loss of property.

Marginal note:Meetings relating to protecting personal information

446.7 The Chief Electoral Officer shall hold at least one meeting each calendar year relating to the protection of personal information by registered parties and eligible parties.

DIVISION 3Electoral District Associations

SUBDIVISION ARegistration of Electoral District Associations

Registration

Marginal note:Prohibition — accepting contributions, etc., while not registered

447 No electoral district association of a registered party shall, unless it is registered,

• (a) accept contributions;

• (b) provide goods or services or transfer funds to a candidate endorsed by a registered party;

• (c) provide goods or services or transfer funds to a registered party or a registered association; or

• (d) accept surplus nomination campaign funds of a nomination contestant, surplus electoral funds of a candidate or surplus leadership campaign funds of a leadership contestant.

Marginal note:Contents of application

• 448 (1) An electoral district association of a registered party may submit to the Chief Electoral Officer an application for registration that includes

  • (a) the full name of the association and of the electoral district;

  • (b) the full name of the registered party;

  • (c) the address of the association’s office where records are maintained and to which communications may be addressed;

  • (d) the names and addresses of the chief executive officer and other officers of the association;

  • (e) the name and address of the appointed auditor of the association; and

  • (f) the name and address of the financial agent of the association.

• Marginal note:Accompanying documents

  (2) The application shall be accompanied by

  • (a) the signed consent of the financial agent to act in that capacity;

  • (b) the signed consent of the auditor to act in that capacity; and

  • (c) a declaration signed by the leader of the party certifying that the electoral district association is an electoral district association of the party.

• Marginal note:Examination of application

  (3) The Chief Electoral Officer shall register an electoral district association that meets the requirements of subsections (1) and (2). In the case of a refusal to register, the Chief Electoral Officer shall indicate to the association which of the requirements have not been met.

• Marginal note:Date of registration

  (4) An electoral district association is registered as of the date on which the Chief Electoral Officer registers it in the registry of electoral district associations.

Marginal note:Only one registered association per district

449 A registered party may have at most one registered association in an electoral district.

Marginal note:Prohibition — incurring partisan advertising expenses, etc.

• 449.1 (1) No electoral district association of a registered party shall

  • (a) incur partisan advertising expenses in relation to partisan advertising messages that promote or oppose a registered party or an eligible party and that are transmitted during a pre-election period; or

  • (b) transmit or cause to be transmitted, during a pre-election period, partisan advertising messages that promote or oppose a registered party or an eligible party.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Despite paragraph (1)(a), an electoral district association of a registered party may incur partisan advertising expenses to the extent that the goods or services that the partisan advertising expense is incurred for are

  • (a) provided to that party, if permitted under paragraph 364(2)(b); or

  • (b) sold to that party.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Despite subsection (1), an electoral district association of a registered party may

  • (a) incur partisan advertising expenses for the transmission of partisan advertising messages referred to in paragraph (1)(a) to the extent that those messages are intended to be transmitted solely, or substantially solely, within the association’s electoral district; and

  • (b) transmit or cause to be transmitted partisan advertising messages referred to in paragraph (1)(b) to the extent that those messages are transmitted solely, or substantially solely, within the association’s electoral district.

Marginal note:Message to be authorized

449.2 A registered association that causes partisan advertising to be conducted shall mention in or on the partisan advertising message that its transmission was authorized by one of the association’s electoral district agents.

Marginal note:Prohibition — incurring election expenses

• 450 (1) No electoral district association of a registered party shall incur election expenses.

• Marginal note:Election expenses — electoral district associations

  (1.1) For the purposes of subsection (1),

  • (a) election expense has the meaning given to that expression by subsection 376(1), except that the reference to “a registered party or a candidate” is to be read as a reference to “an electoral district association”; and

  • (b) subsections 376(2) to (4) apply, other than paragraph 376(3)(c), except that the reference to “a registered party or a candidate” in subsection 376(4) is to be read as a reference to “an electoral district association”.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (1.2) Despite subsection (1), an electoral district association of a registered party may incur an election expense to the extent that the property or service that the cost was incurred for or the non-monetary contribution was received for — or the goods or services that were accepted — are

  • (a) provided to that party, a registered association of that party or a candidate endorsed by that party, if permitted under paragraph 364(2)(b); or

  • (b) sold to that party or a candidate endorsed by that party.

• Marginal note:Uncancellable transmission

  (2) In the case of a general election that is not held on a day set in accordance with subsection 56.1(2) or section 56.2, or of a by-election, an electoral district association is deemed not to have incurred an election expense for election advertising if, on the issue of the writ or writs, it is not able to cancel the transmission of the election advertising message that the expense is in relation to.

Marginal note:Statement of assets and liabilities

451 Within six months after the day on which it becomes a registered association, the association shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with

• (a) a statement, prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, of its assets and liabilities, including any surplus or deficit, as of the day before the effective date of the registration; and

• (b) a declaration in the prescribed form by its financial agent that the statement is complete and accurate.

Marginal note:Prohibition — declaration concerning statement

452 No financial agent of a registered association shall make a declaration referred to in paragraph 451(b) if the agent knows or ought reasonably to know that the statement referred to in paragraph 451(a) is not complete and accurate.

Marginal note:Annual fiscal period

453 The fiscal period of a registered association is the calendar year.