In total, there were 55 respondents who described themselves as the financial agent of a third party that registered with Elections Canada for the 2019 federal general election.
These 55 respondents represented various types of third parties.footnote 1 The majority (29 out of 55) responded on behalf of a registered non-profit or membership-based organization (see Figure 1).
The horizontal bar chart above displays the number of respondents representing various types of third parties. The breakdown is as follows:
The majority of financial agents (32 out of 55) reported that their third party had not registered for any past federal elections (see Figure 2). However, eight in ten (44 out of 55) said their third party is likely to register for future federal elections, with over four in ten (24 out of 55) saying that it is very likely and about a third (20 out of 55) saying that it is somewhat likely (see Figure 3).
The pie chart above displays the number of respondents who have or have not registered for any past federal elections. The breakdown is as follows:
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of likeliness of their third party registering for future federal elections. The breakdown is as follows:
When asked about their experience while registering as a third party, the majority (34 out of 55) said it was easy to determine whether their organization needed to register with Elections Canada, with about a quarter (13 out of 55) saying it was very easy to determine (see Figure 4). In contrast, over a third (20 out of 55) said it was difficult to determine whether their organization needed to register with Elections Canada.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of determining whether their organization needed to register with Elections Canada. The breakdown is as follows:
Although about six in ten financial agents (34 out of 55) said it was easy to determine whether their organization needed to register with Elections Canada (see Figure 4), the majority (31 out of 55) also said it was difficult to figure out at what point they needed to register (see Figure 5). Over four in ten financial agents (24 out of 55) said it was somewhat difficult for them to figure out when they needed to register, and one in eight (7 out of 55) said it was very difficult.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of figuring out at what point their third party needed to register. The breakdown is as follows:
Lastly, when asked about the ease of figuring out how to register, the vast majority of financial agents (47 out of 55) said it was easy (see Figure 6). Over half (29 out of 55) said it was somewhat easy and a third (18 out of 55) said it was very easy to figure out how to register. Only about one in seven (8 out of 55) said it was difficult to figure out how to register.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of figuring out how to register. The breakdown is as follows:
Nearly seven in ten respondents (38 out of 55) said they were the person responsible for finding the form to register as a third party on the Elections Canada website (see Figure 7). When these financial agents were asked about the ease of finding the registration form, over eight in ten (32 out of 38) said the registration form was easy to find (see Figure 8). Almost half (18 out of 38) said it was very easy, and over a third (14 out of 38) said it was somewhat easy to find. In contrast, about one in six (6 out of 38) said it was somewhat difficult to find the registration form. No one said it was very difficult to find.
The pie chart above displays the number of respondents who said they were or were not the person responsible for finding the form to register as a third party on the Elections Canada website. The breakdown is as follows:
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of finding the form to register as a third party on the Elections Canada website. The breakdown is as follows:
Financial agents were also asked to state their level of agreement (or disagreement) with the statement "Registering as a third party did not require very much work." Just over two thirds (37 out of 55) said they agreed with this statement, and about three in ten (16 out of 55) said they disagreed (see Figure 9).
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of agreement that it did not require very much work when registering as a third party. The breakdown is as follows:
When asked to state their level of agreement (or disagreement) with the statement "Opening a separate bank account and maintaining separate financial records for regulated activities did not require very much work," the majority (35 out of 55) said they disagreed, indicating some burden (see Figure 10). Four in ten (22 out of 55) said they strongly disagreed with this statement, and a quarter (13 out of 55) said they somewhat disagreed. In contrast, a quarter (13 out of 55) said they agreed with this statement.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of agreement that it did not require very much work when opening a separate bank account and maintaining separate financial records for regulated activities. The breakdown is as follows:
When respondents were asked about the overall ease of registering as a third party, the majority (31 out of 55) said it was easy (see Figure 11). Half (28 out of 55) said it was somewhat easy, and a few (3 out of 55) said it was very easy. In contrast, four in ten (22 out of 55) said registering as a third party was difficult, with about a quarter (15 out of 55) saying it was somewhat difficult and one in eight (7 out of 55) saying it was very difficult.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported overall level of ease of registering as a third party. The breakdown is as follows:
The 22 financial agents who said registering as a third party was somewhat or very difficult were further asked an open-ended question about what made it difficult. There was a total of 50 responses, since financial agents had the option to mention more than one difficulty. The most common responses were that the process was bureaucratic, complicated and/or onerous (11 out of 22); the qualifications or requirements were confusing and/or hard to understand (11 out of 22); and getting a bank account was difficult (10 out of 22) (see Figure 12).
The horizontal bar chart above displays the number of respondents who named various aspects of registering as a third party as being difficult. The breakdown is as follows:
Not all third parties needed to submit interim returns, as that requirement depends on the amount of contributions they received or expenses they incurred, as well as when the contributions were received and when the expenses were incurred.
All respondents were asked whether it was easy or difficult to determine whether their third party needed to submit any interim returns. Just over half (28 out of 55) said it was easy to figure out if they needed to submit an interim return (see Figure 13). A third (18 out of 55) said it was somewhat easy, and about a fifth (10 out of 55) said it was very easy. In contrast, nearly four in ten (21 out of 55) said it was difficult to figure out whether their third party needed to submit interim returns.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of figuring out whether or not their third party needed to submit any interim returns. The breakdown is as follows:
The following series of questions were asked only to the financial agents of third parties that were required to submit at least one interim return.
First, these financial agents were asked whether it was easy or difficult to find the interim return form on the Elections Canada website. Three quarters (18 out of 24) said the form was easy to find (see Figure 14). About four in ten (10 out of 24) said the interim return form was somewhat easy to find, and a third (8 out of 24) said it was very easy to find. In contrast, one in six (4 out of 24) said the form was difficult to find.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of finding the interim return form on the Elections Canada website. The breakdown is as follows:
In terms of when their third party needed to submit the interim return(s), the majority of financial agents (13 out of 24) said it was easy to figure out by what date they needed to submit their interim return(s) (see Figure 15). A third (8 out of 24) said it was somewhat easy, and about a fifth (5 out of 24) said it was very easy. However, over four in ten (11 out of 24) said it was difficult to figure out by what date they needed to submit the interim return(s), with about four in ten (10 out of 24) saying it was somewhat difficult.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease of figuring out when their third party needed to submit interim returns. The breakdown is as follows:
When asked about the ease of figuring out how to submit their interim returns, three quarters of financial agents (18 out of 24) said it was easy (see Figure 16). Over half (13 out of 24) said it was somewhat easy, and about a fifth (5 out of 24) said it was very easy. In contrast, a quarter (6 out of 24) said figuring out how to submit interim returns was difficult.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of ease when figuring out how to submit interim returns. The breakdown is as follows:
Regarding the amount of work required to complete and submit interim returns, most financial agents indicated that these were burdensome to complete. Financial agents who submitted at least one interim return were asked to rate their level of agreement (or disagreement) with the statement "Completing and submitting the interim returns did not require very much work." Nearly eight in ten (19 out of 24) financial agents said they disagreed with this statement (see Figure 17). Over half (13 out of 24) said they strongly disagreed, and a quarter (6 out of 24) said they somewhat disagreed. Only about a fifth (5 out of 24) agreed that completing and submitting the interim returns did not require very much work, and none said they strongly agreed with this statement.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of agreement that it did not require very much work when completing and submitting the interim returns. The breakdown is as follows:
Overall, three quarters of financial agents (18 out of 24) said the process of completing and submitting the interim return(s) was difficult (see Figure 18). Over four in ten (11 out of 24) said it was a somewhat difficult process, and about three in ten (7 out of 24) said it was a very difficult process. In contrast, a quarter (6 out of 24) said it was a somewhat easy process. No financial agents reported that the process was very easy.
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of overall ease regarding the process of completing and submitting the interim returns. The breakdown is as follows:
Those who said the interim return process was difficult were further asked an open-ended question about what was difficult about completing and submitting interim returns. Although 18 respondents were asked this question, there were a total of 33 mentions, as respondents were able to mention more than one type of difficulty in their response. The most common responses were that the process was hard to understand (11 out of 18) and that they had technical problems with the PDF (e.g. could not print, could not save) (9 out of 18) (see Figure 19).
The horizontal bar chart above displays the number of respondents who named various aspects of completing and submitting the interim returns as being difficult. The breakdown is as follows:
Back to the note 1 "A business" was also an answer option, though no respondents selected it.