Impact of Bill C-24 Under the Canada Elections Act

As of January 1, 2004, there were limits placed on contributions by individuals and corporations under Bill C-24 of the Canada Elections Act. The following is the impact of these changes:

• only individuals who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents may make contributions to registered parties, their registered electoral district associations, leadership and nomination contestants, or to any candidate

• an individual’s contribution may not exceed a total of $5100 (new for January 1, 2005) in a calendar year to the groups noted above

• the $5100 limit may be given to one entity of any particular registered party group or it may be divided among any number of entities in that group

• the National Party can no longer accept corporate gifts. Your local electoral district association can accept corporate gifts up to $1000 per corporation per calendar year.

More information on the impact of Bill C-24 can be found on the Elections Canada website at www.elections.ca