Family Coalition Party of Ontario (FCP)

See the New (2009) Electoral District Maps (from Elections Ontario)

Steps For Opening A Constituency Association

The basic organizational unit of a political party is the Constituency Association. Family Coalition Party Constituency Associations are open year to year and allow you to raise funds, issue political tax receipts, and spend money for such things as attending the party conventions or buying election materials, at any time, even in non-election years.

A candidate may run for the Family Coalition Party of Ontario in an election without a Constituency Association, but without a Constituency Association he/she cannot accept donations or spend money until the writ is issued, and must stop doing so when the election period ends.

1. To start a Constituency Association you should have 5 members in good standing with the Family Coalition Party of Ontario. Ask Bob Williams (1 888 327 2386) who the other members are in your Electoral District. Membership is $10 minimum donation. Send cheques made out to the Family Coalition Party of Ontario to: P.O. Box 45054 RPO MID YONGE, Toronto, ON M4P 3E3. Your Association must choose a President and a Chief Financial Officer.

2. You can also contact Bob Williams via E-mail at Rwilli@FamilyCoalitionParty.com. Bob is responsible for approving new Constituency Associations. For more information you may also contact the Office at: 1-888-613-2645 or E-mail info@FamilyCoalitionParty.com.

3. Register your Constituency Association with Elections Ontario. Call: Elections Ontario (call collect) 1-416-325-9452. Ask them for an A-1 form.

4. Go to a bank or credit union and tell them that you want to open an account for the "(name of your Electoral District) Family Coalition Party of Ontario Constituency Association". Now you're ready to accept donations, write political tax receipts and spend money. Elections Ontario will send you political tax receipts each spring to issue to donors to your association. Keep all receipts, bank statements, returned cheques, invoices.

All Constituency Association bank accounts are audited once a year in the spring. Elections Ontario pays for up to $600 of the audit fee. You choose the auditor. You may choose an auditor in your own community or use one of the auditors that the Family Coalition Party uses regularly. Please ask Bob for details and to request permission to use this particular auditor.

Steps For Registering Your Candidate

When the election is called, you should quickly register your candidate with the returning officer in your Electoral District. The returning officer (RO) is appointed by the government to handle the paperwork of all the candidates in your Electoral District. Phone Elections Ontario at (416) 326-6300 or 1 888 668-8683 to find out who your RO is, or go to the Elections Ontario web site.
Registering a candidate takes a little paperwork, but it's not overly difficult.

1) Your team must collect a minimum of 25 signatures from eligible voters living in the Electoral District (ED), on official forms that you must obtain from the returning officer in your ED once the election is called. The signatures must be from people over 18 who are Canadian citizens. The signatures must be from adults living in your ED. We suggest to get about 40 (use two forms), in case some people are found to be ineligible. To collect signatures, get the official forms from your returning officer, after the writ is issued, and ask people for their name, address, and signature.

2) Your team must put up a non-refundable deposit of $200 (cash or certified cheque). Raising money isn't hard since it costs a contributor only $25 to donate $100 since donors to provincial political parties receive a refundable rebate of 75% on the first $300 donation, even if they don't have a taxable income.

3) You need a letter from the president of your constituency association endorsing the candidate. This letter goes to your returning officer.

4) You also need the name and Licence Number of a chartered accountant (CA) who agrees to audit the campaign's financial statements after the election. (Elections Ontario pays for the audit. If you don't have an accountant you may use one of the two who work a lot with the Family Coalition Party: Please ask Bob at 1-888 327 2386 for details, and to request permission to use this particular auditor.

5) Candidates must appoint a Chief Financial Officer - someone to handle the financial affairs of their campaign. Your Chief Financial Officer must deposit the cheques and sign outgoing cheques and approve campaign literature. After the election, your Chief Financial Officer must prepare the books for the auditor, including all bank statements and invoices for expenditures.
The Family Coalition Party or your Returning Officer will assist you with this work.

For electoral district maps or information on being a candidate, phone Elections Ontario at 416-326-6300 (they accept collect calls) or 1 888 668-8683. Alternately you can download maps and forms from the Elections Ontario's web site www.elections.on.ca.

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