Election Finance

By law, candidates and third party advertisers have to follow certain rules in how they spend and fundraise for their election campaign, including:

• Opening a dedicated bank account for all campaign activity;
• Keeping detailed and accurate records of everything they spend and fundraise;
• Staying within their office’s spending limits;
• Only accepting donations from people who are legally allowed to donate to them;
• Not accepting more than someone is legally allowed to give them; and,
• Filing a complete and accurate campaign financial statement after the election with Elections Markham.

Candidates are responsible for reminding their contributors that a person can only donate up to $5,000 total to candidates running for Markham City Council or the same school board.

Campaign period

By law, candidates and third party advertisers can only fundraise and incur expenses during the official campaign period for an upcoming municipal or school board election. Their campaign period begins on the day they register and ends on:

• For a regular election, December 31 of the election year
• For a by-election, 45 days after final voting day

If a candidate or third party advertiser has a deficit by the end of their campaign period, they can file a form with Elections Markham requesting a 6-month extension. Extensions have to be requested before the standard campaign period ends.

Once a campaign ends, a candidate or third party advertiser should close their campaign bank account and prepare their campaign financial statement. 

Donation limits

Candidates can only accept personal donations from Ontario residents. Corporations, trade unions, businesses, groups and non-Ontario residents can't donate to candidates.

Candidates and third party advertisers can’t accept donations that are:

• From an ineligible or anonymous source
• More than $1,200 to them, or would result in the donor giving more than $5,000 total to candidates running for City Council or the same school board
• From funds that don’t belong to whoever gave them
• Made outside their campaign period
• Made in cash and are greater than $25

If a candidate or third party advertiser accepts a donation that they later learn isn’t allowed, they have to return it. If they don’t know where the donation came from or how to return it, they have to give it to Elections Markham.

Donations over $100

Candidates have to disclose the name and address of every person who donates more than $100 ($100.01+) to their campaign in their post-election financial statement. 

Campaign financial statements

Every candidate and third party advertiser has to file a post-election financial statement with Elections Markham outlining what they spent and received toward their campaign (even if they withdrew their registration and had no financial activity).

This should reflect all of their financial activity from the day they registered up to the end of the campaign period

If they extend their campaign, they still have to file a financial statement by the above deadline. But they also have to prepare a second financial statement that’s been updated to reflect any spending or fundraising during those extra months when they were trying to erase their deficit.

Campaign financial statements are public records and are posted at the City Clerk’s Office and online or the next two regular municipal election cycles.

Late statements

Candidates and third party advertisers who don’t file their campaign financial statement by the deadline can still file their statement within 30 days, but have to pay the City a $500 late fee.

If they don’t file a campaign financial statement by the end of the 30-day late period (and haven’t applied to Ontario's Superior Court of Justice for an extension), automatic penalties apply, including:

• Removal from their office (if they were elected); and,
• Disqualification from running for any municipal council or district school board office in Ontario until after the next regularly scheduled election has taken place.

Compliance audits

A Markham voter who believes that a Markham City Council candidate or a third party advertiser has broken a campaign finance rule can request an audit of the campaign’s financial records through the City's election finance compliance audit committee. Compliance audit requests are accepted by writing application and must outline reasons and evidence for why the requester believes the law was broken.

After the statutory filing deadline for campaign financial statements, Elections Markham reviews the individual donations disclosed by each candidate and third party advertiser in the election. If it appears that someone has donated more to a Markham City Council candidate, group of Markham City Council candidates, or third party advertiser than the law allows, this is reported to the City's election finance compliance audit committee.

The committee will review each case of a possible campaign finance infraction and decide whether to investigate and take legal action against the candidate, third party advertiser, and/or donor.

View Committee's Rules of Procedure

Upcoming compliance audit committee meetings

There are no upcoming compliance audit committee meetings.

Past compliance audit committee meetings

Meeting Date	Agenda	Minutes / Decisions
June 7, 2023 (6 PM)	Agenda	Minutes
June 15, 2023 (6 PM)	Agenda	Minutes

Important dates for 2026 Markham Municipal Election

Coming soon.

Past election financial statements

2026 Markham Municipal Election

Coming soon.