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 (Ontario Coalition) in an election without a
Constituency Association, but without a Constituency
Association he 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 the Administrative office (Marie Young
at 1-888 327 2386) who the other members are in your
riding. 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 Marie via E-mail at MYoung@FamilyCoalitionParty.com.
Marie is responsible for approving new Constituency
Associations. For more information you may also
contact Giuseppe Gori, the party leader at:
905-781 3225
or GGori@FamilyCoalitionParty.com.
3.
Register your Constituency Association with Elections
Ontario. Call: Elections Ontario ( call collect)
1-416-325-9452, talk to Julie Stanley, she is the
Registration & Communications officer for Elections
Ontario. Ask her 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
riding) 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 Ontario Coalition uses regularly.
Please ask Marie 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 riding. The
returning officer (RO) is appointed by the government to
handle the paperwork of all the candidates in your
riding. Phone Elections Ontario 1-416-325-9452 to find
out who your RO is.
Registering a candidate takes a little paperwork, but
it's not overly difficult.
1)
Your team must collect a minimum of 25 signatures of
eligible voters living in the riding on official forms
that you must obtain from the returning officer in your
riding 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 riding. 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 Ontario Coalition: Please ask Marie 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 Ontario Coalition or your Returning Officer will
assist you with this work.
For
electoral district maps or information on being a
candidate, phone Election Ontario at 416-326-6300 (they
accept collect calls), or from Election Ontario's web
site www.electionsontario.on.ca.
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