Opening a campaign account

All campaign contributions must be deposited into an account at a bank or, if there is no bank in the community, at an institution approved by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Once a Returning Officer has confirmed a Nomination Contestant as an official candidate, the candidate will receive a Receipt of Official Candidacy. This receipt may assist the Official Agent in opening a campaign account; however, financial institutions have their own rules about the requirements for opening accounts.

Check with the institution in advance to determine what will be required to open an account.

Account Statements

All campaign contributions and expenses must go through the campaign account. In order to track these transactions, statements must be provided with the candidate’s Financial Report.

If it is not possible to provide official statements from the institution, Official Agents may request a form from the Chief Electoral Officer in order to report transactions.

Closing the account

Once all bills have been paid, the Official Agent may close the account. If there are any surplus funds in the account, they must be:

• donated to a charity of the candidate’s choice; or
• provided to the Chief Electoral Officer to be deposited into the GNWT Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Section 248 of the Elections and Plebiscites Act (external link) provides direction on what to do with any surplus funds