Beginning on January 1, 2026, third parties running partisan election advertisements will have to register with Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer. On May 30, Quebec’s Bill 98, the Act to Amend the Election Act Primarily to Preserve the Integrity of the Electoral Process, received royal assent.

Third party advertisers with expenses totaling more than $1,000 will have to register with the Chief Electoral Officer by sending a notice of intent. Following the election, they will have to submit a statement of their advertising expenses. The public will be able to view a list of registered third parties and their statements on the Elections Québec website.

The bill also changes political party activity reporting, imposes an obligation to destroy personal information relating to voters in certain circumstances, and makes it an offence for anyone disseminating certain information that they know to be false with the intent to influence the results of an election, disrupt its conduct, or compromise public confidence in the electoral process.

New changes in the legislation will be in effect by October 5, 2026, the date of Quebec’s next scheduled provincial elections.

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On May 27, the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists for British Columbia released updates for several of its guidance documents to reflect the changes to the Lobbyists Transparency Act’s (LTA) filing requirements brought in by the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2024, which came into force on the same day.

One updated guidance, Government Funding, is intended to help lobbyists understand what is meant by the term government funding and the associated reporting obligations.

A guidance previously called Coalitions is now entitled Working Together for the Purpose of Lobbying. It outlines the reporting requirements under the LTA. It outlines designated filers’ obligations to report the name and business address of any other client or organization with whom they work for the purpose of lobbying and who has a direct interest in the outcome of the lobbying activities. When a consultant lobbyist or an organization ceases lobbying, a designated filer has 30 days after the month in which lobbying stops to end their registration return in the registry.

Other released guidance documents include Sample Questionnaire for Consultant Lobbyists’ Clients, Sample Questionnaire for Organizations that are Lobbying, Non-Profit Organizations, Getting Started – Reference Guide, Registration Returns – New and Reactivations, Monthly Returns – Registration Return Updates and Lobbying Activity Reports, Quick Reference Guide for Representatives, and Funding Returns.

On May 27, 2025, Elections Canada published the updated limits on expenses for regulated activities of third parties involved in federal elections in Canada. The Canada Elections Act imposes a limit on expenses a third party can incur for regulated political activities.

For an election called on or after April 1, 2025, and before April 1, 2026 , a third party is prohibited from incurring overall election advertising expenses of a total amount of more than $617,400 during a general election. The previous limit was $602,700. For the same period of April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, a third party is prohibited from incurring election advertising expenses in a given electoral district of a total amount of more than $5,292 during a general election. The previous limit was $5,166.

Adjustments are made annually based on a formula of a base amount multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor in effect for the period.

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Earlier this month, the Commissioner of Lobbying for Canada, Nancy Bélanger, reiterated some of her office’s proposed modifications to Canada’s current lobbying law. Speaking at a webinar on May 13 for the Public Affairs Association of Canada, Saskatchewan Chapter, Bélanger reportedly talked about a proposal to remove the “significant part of duties” registration threshold, known as the 20% rule, for in-house lobbyists and replace it with an obligation to register lobbying activities by default, with limited exceptions. Other proposals being considered by Bélanger’s office include making reporting requirements the same for all in-house lobbyist registrations; deeming paid members of boards of directors to be employees of corporations and organizations; and harmonizing the registration deadline for consultant and in-house lobbyists to 15 days.

Bélanger has stated that she intends to issue new guidance on how the Lobbying Act should be interpreted.

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Cathryn Motherwell was appointed Integrity Commissioner of Ontario by the Legislative Assembly on April 16, replacing former Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake. Wake served as commissioner for nine years before deciding to retire earlier this year. Motherwell is a former journalist and has worked with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner since 2009.

On May 27, amendments to British Columbia’s Lobbyists Transparency Act come into force. The changes included in Bill 9, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act 2024, include removing requirements that requested government funding be reported, extending the due date to report received government funding, and clarifications on other existing filing requirements for coalition lobbying.

Designated filers will no longer be required to report requested government funding but will still need to report received government funding the previous 12 months. The deadline to report received government funding has been extended. A filer now has three months plus 15 days following the month in which government funding was received to report the funding. Designated filers may continue to file received government funding information monthly if they prefer to do so.

While requirements remain the same concerning coalition lobbying reporting, there are language changes for clarification. Designated Filers will be required to report the name and business address of any other client or organization who they work with for the purpose of lobbying and who has a direct interest in the outcome of the lobbying activities. When a consultant lobbyist or an organization ceases lobbying, the designated filer will have 30 days after the month in which lobbying stops to end their registration return in the Lobbyists Registry. They must submit any outstanding information that otherwise would have been submitted in a monthly return or any outstanding information on received government funding up to the date the lobbying ceased.

Sometime in 2025, a by-election will be coming in Quebec for the provincial riding of Arthabaska for a seat in the province’s National Assembly of Quebec. MNA Éric Lefebvre resigned on March 18 to run with the Conservative Party of Canada for the federal riding of Richmond-Arthabaska (Quebec) for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons.

The by-election date in the Arthabaska electoral division has not yet been determined, according to Elections Quebec. Prime Minister François Legault has six months to call a by-election.

The federal by-election for the electoral district of Halifax (Nova Scotia) to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons has been cancelled.

Originally scheduled for April 14, Elections Canada announced that because A federal general election has been called for April 28, the previously scheduled by-election for the electoral district will be held on that date. Technically, the electoral district may change for the general election and have new electoral boundaries.

Member of Parliament Andy Fillmore, who had occupied the seat, resigned on August 31 of last year to run for Halifax mayor. On March 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney called the snap federal election because his Liberal Party was not able to form a majority government.

On March 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney called a snap federal election for April 28. Carney won the race to become leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party earlier this month. In January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had stepped down, requiring the ruling Liberal Party to hold their election to replace him. A federal election was expected to be held on October 20 of this year, but the Liberal Party was not able to form a majority government, which caused Carney to have to call for this earlier election date.

On March 19, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat for Eglinton–Lawrence (Ontario) is vacant. Marco Mendicino resigned his seat in Parliament to become Chief of Staff to newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney. Under the law, if a vacancy occurs less than nine months before the fixed date for a general election, no by-election is called, and the seat remains vacant until the general election. Therefore, no by-election will be held to fill this vacant seat.

On March 9, former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party. Carney won 86% of the votes cast, beating former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. In January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had announced he would step down, which forced the ruling Liberal Party to hold their election to replace him. While a federal election must be held by October 20 of this year, the Liberal Party is not likely to form a majority government, and so Carney is expected to call for an earlier election date.

On March 7, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Ontario’s law limiting spending by third-party political advertising violates the right to vote guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.

The court concluded in its decision that, “By design, [the law] creates absolute disproportionality, or a disproportionality that is so marked on its face that it allows political parties to drown out the voices of third parties on political issues from reaching citizens during an entire year of legislative activity.”

Ontario’s Election Finances Act restricts the amount that third parties can spend on political advertising in the year before a provincial election period. Specifically, the law limits spending on third party advertising to $24,000 in any one electoral district and to $600,000 in total during the 12-month period before an election period. While it also regulates political advertising by political parties during the six-month period before an election, they are not subject to the same spending limits or time period restrictions.

The court reasoned, “When political parties face no limitations, curtailing the ability of third parties to use platforms that may be effective in reaching certain voters has the potential to overwhelm the political discourse and drown out third parties, thus interfering with citizens’ access to information letting them weigh and establish their views during an important time in the democratic cycle.”

A third party is any person or entity, other than a registered candidate, registered constituency association, or registered party, engaging in election advertising and may be a corporation, an unincorporated association, or a partnership.

On March 4, the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories recommended to the Commissioner the reappointment of Stephen Dunbar as Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for a second consecutive four-year term.

The CEO is an officer of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, appointed by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories to a four-year term, and reporting to the Legislative Assembly through the Speaker.

According to the Public Affairs and Communications division of the legislature, Dunbar is currently leading a full repeal and replacement of the Elections and Plebiscites Act and is engaging with the NWT Association of Communities to discuss expanding Elections NWT’s mandate.

Dunbar, who was born and raised in the Northwest Territories, was appointed CEO of Elections NWT on November 25, 2021.

On April 14, a Canadian federal by-election will be held in the electoral district of Halifax (Nova Scotia) to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons. On March 2, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially announced the district’s by-election date. Member of Parliament Andy Fillmore, who had occupied the seat, resigned on August 31 of last year to run for Halifax mayor.

Because the vacancy occurred more than nine months before Canada’s fixed general election date of October 20, 2025, the by-election will take place before then. If a general election is called before election day for the by-election in Halifax, the by-election will be canceled.