Municipal elections in Ontario, including those conducted by the City of Thorold, are governed by the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (MEA), which establishes rules for the administration of elections. The MEA assigns responsibility to the municipal Clerk for the administration of the election.
While the Office of the Clerk administers the election in accordance with the MEA, Staff cannot provide legal advice to candidates or third party advertisers, nor do they have authority to investigate or review any campaign-related compliance matters, which are addressed through statutory compliance processes and the courts. In accordance with the MEA, neither the City Clerk nor any other City employee have a role in investigating concerns related to candidate or third party advertising campaigns.
The Joint Compliance Audit Committee is a statutory body responsible for reviewing and making decisions on applications for municipal election campaign finance compliance audits, and on reports from the Clerk regarding apparent contraventions of contribution limits prescribed by the MEA resulting from the regular municipal election or any by-election held during the term of office for which the Committee was appointed.
For more information, visit the Joint Compliance Audit Committee.
For reporting election sign concerns or complaints, visit the Report a Concern page.