FREDERICTON, N.B. – The provincial government plans to create a political financing model for municipal candidates through amendments to the Municipal Elections Act.
Environment and Local Government Minister Serge Rousselle said the new structure is aimed at encouraging transparency and accountability in municipal election campaign financing.
“We had committed to exploring appropriate limits and public disclosure of spending and donations for municipal elections, and we got it done.”
Unlike provincial election candidates, people seeking municipal office in New Brunswick are not currently subject to any financial reporting requirements. These amendments would allow regulations to be made that could subject municipal candidates to contribution limits and financial reporting requirements.
“We are committed to working with municipalities on this,” said Rousselle. “That is why the approach we are proposing incorporates different rules, rather than uniform rules, that take the municipalities’ characteristics into consideration.”
New Brunswick is currently one of four jurisdictions, along with Prince Edward Island, Yukon and Nunavut, that do not have provincially mandated financial reporting requirements for municipal candidates.
Elections New Brunswick will be provided with resources to develop training materials and will help educate candidates about these regulations before the next municipal elections, which are scheduled for May of 2020.
More information will be available later this year when details of the regulation have been finalized.
