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Private intervenor

Period to apply for an authorization: from May 15 to 29, 2012.

A private intervenor is an elector or a group of electors that plans to incur publicity expenses during an election period, without directly promoting or opposing a candidate or a party, to publicize or obtain support for the intervenor's views on a matter of public interest or to advocate abstention or the spoiling of ballots.
In order to obtain an authorization, complete and submit the appropriate form available under the heading “Forms" of the web site of the Chief Electoral Officer.

The form must be submitted to the returning officer of the electoral division in which the elector making the application is domiciled.

Elector or Group

A person who is a qualified elector can act as a "private intervenor". A group, not constituted in a legal person, made up of natural persons, the majority of whom are qualified electors, may also act as a "private intervenor". The natural persons of such a group are acting together in the pursuit of a common goal.

When the private intervenor is a group, the members must designate a representative from among the electors of the group.

A private intervenor cannot become the member of a political party during the election period.

Political Party

An authorized political party that does not run any candidates during by-elections and that would like to act as a private intervenor must notify the Chief Electoral Officer.

Thereafter, it is deemed to hold an authorization as a private intervenor from the date of reception of the notice and the Chief Electoral Officer assigns it an authorization number.

Consult the list of the private intervenors (in French only) >>

A private intervenor can make or incur publicity expenses, the total of which cannot exceed $300 for the entire election period. Such publicity expenses are incurred, without directly promoting or opposing a candidate or a party, either to make known his views on a matter of public interest or to obtain support for such views, or to advocate abstention or the spoiling of ballots.

Publicity expenses are made up of all of the costs related to the design, production, installation and dissemination of every publicity, regardless of the medium or the information or communication technology used, notably the use of a Web page or a blog, the production and dissemination on the Web of a video, a radio program, other on-line tools, etc.