Report on the Survey of Registered Third Parties for the 43rd General Election: Wave 1 Final Report - Views on Third-Party Obligations
Attitude Toward the New Third-Party Regime
In 2018, various changes were introduced to the provisions of the Canada Elections Act as they relate to third parties. This includes new spending limits during the pre-election period. Financial agents were asked to rate their level of agreement (or disagreement) with two statements relating to their attitudes toward the new third-party regime.
Regarding the statement "The recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have improved election spending transparency," four in ten financial agents (22 out of 55) said they agree (see Figure 41). Over a third (20 out of 55) said they somewhat agree that the changes have improved election spending transparency, and a couple (2 out of 55) said they strongly agree. However, a third (18 out of 55) said they didn't know, and about a quarter (15 out of 55) said they disagreed that the changes have improved transparency.
Figure 41: Level of agreement with "The recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have improved election spending transparency"
Q43. Please rate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statement: The recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have improved election spending transparency. Base: All respondents (n=55)
Text version of "Figure 41: Level of agreement with 'The recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have improved election spending transparency'"
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of agreement that the recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have improved election spending transparency. The breakdown is as follows:
Don't know: 18
Strongly disagree: 8
Somewhat disagree: 7
Somewhat agree: 20
Strongly agree: 2
In contrast, when asked about their agreement with the statement "The recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have helped to create a more level playing field amongst organizations with different access to financial resources," about half of financial agents (27 out of 55) said they disagreed (see Figure 42). About three in ten (17 out of 55) said they strongly disagreed with this statement, and almost a fifth (10 out of 55) said they somewhat disagreed. Over a quarter (15 out of 55) said they agreed that it helped create a more level playing field, and about a quarter (13 out of 55) said they did not know.
Figure 42: Level of agreement with "The recent changes ... helped to create a more level playing field..."
Q44. Please rate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements: The recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have helped to create a more level playing field amongst organizations with different access to financial resources. Base: All respondents (n=55)
Text version of "Figure 42: Level of agreement with 'The recent changes ... helped to create a more level playing field...'"
The stacked horizontal bar chart above displays the respondents' reported level of agreement that the recent changes to the Canada Elections Act regarding third parties' regulated activities have helped to create a more level playing field amongst organizations with different access to financial resources. The breakdown is as follows:
