Are Ontario's municipal campaign spending limits too low?

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Bowie argues spending limits should protect against undue influence, but not at the cost of limiting democratic choice. Democracy depends on robust competition and informed voters, he said.

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For a mayoral race in the City of Ottawa, campaign money is spread out over a geographic area including urban, suburban and rural areas, and over traditional media as well as social media. Candidates can craft their own messages for social media, but mail is seeing a resurgence, he said. Getting campaign materials in the mail tends to stick in a voter’s mind.

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“My approach, personally, is that I want to be everywhere there are voters,” said Bowie, who has no clients in the current Ottawa municipal races but has clients in two mayoral campaigns in B.C.

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“You can’t send a letter for less than 60 cents. That doesn’t even count the cost of printed materials.”

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Emrys Graefe is the campaign manager for Alex Lawson, a first-time candidate for Ottawa mayor. He’ll know the official spending limit in September, but at this point, he expects the limit will be somewhere between $650,000 and $750,000.

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“If you look at federal and provincial local campaigns, which typically last around a month and the spending limit is around $100,000, it’s comparable.” (Provincial and federal elections are of a shorter duration, hence the difference. Registration for candidates in this year’s municipal election opened on May 1, with voting to take place Oct. 26. )

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Graefe doesn’t believe the spending limits are too low.

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“If you look at past mayoral campaigns in Ottawa, nobody spends the full campaign limit,” he said.

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However, the rules favour incumbents in other ways, Graefe contends. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has said he will run for mayor, but did not register as a candidate until several weeks after the opening day. Graefe said this gave him “all the resources of his office, and none of the rules of a candidate” before he applied.

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Candidates in Ontario can only accept contributions from people who are normally residents of Ontario. The candidate and their spouse can also contribute. Candidates can’t accept money from a federal or provincial political party, constituency association or candidate endorsed by that party, a corporation that carries on business in Ontario, a trade union that holds bargaining rights for employees in Ontario, the Crown in right of Canada or Ontario, a municipality or a local board.

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Ottawa has program in which those who contribute to a participating candidate’s campaign may receive a portion of their contribution back in the form of a rebate. The contribution must be at least $25.01 to be eligible, and the candidate must participate in the program.

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Last year, Alberta overhauled its election laws to allow corporate and union campaign donations.

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“We’re not advocating for that,” said Bowie.

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The Edmonton Journal noted that success in Edmonton’s 2025 civic election was not particularly linked to the size of a candidate’s war chest. The well-funded Tim Cartmell mayoral campaign was defeated by opponent Andrew Knack, who spent only a fraction of the Cartmell campaign. Eight out of 12 races for ward councillor were won by candidates who had been outspent by at least one opponent.

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Meanwhile, some jurisdictions have tried other approaches to get voters engaged in municipal elections.

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In 2015, Seattle voters passed campaign finance reforms, including one that allows the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission to distribute “democracy vouchers” to eligible residents. The voucher can be given to finance campaign activities for a participating candidate. Last year, Seattle voters approved a property tax of $4.5 million per year to fund the voucher program for 10 years.