Candidates

Candidates are persons who seek election, and are endorsed by a political party or run as an independent.

A person who wishes to run for a political party, must first register as a nomination contestant with Elections Alberta and participate in the party's or constituency association's nomination contest in which one contestant is selected to be the candidate for the particular electoral division.  Once the party endorses the selected contestant as the official candidate, that person is automatically considered to be registered as a candidate with Elections Alberta and is permitted to raise revenue and incur expenses for their election campaign once the campaign period has begun.

A person who wishes to run as an independent candidate must first register as a candidate with Elections Alberta and a Writ of Election must have been issued, before the candidate is permitted to raise and spend funds for the candidate's election campaign.  These conditions apply for all general elections and by-elections held prior to 2019.  Beginning with the 2019 Provincial General Election, raising and spending funds is allowed once the Campaign Period has begun.

All candidates must appoint a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who is responsible for maintaining proper records of all revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and issuing official contribution receipts.  Candidates and their CFO's are required to file an election campaign period financial statement four months after polling day.  Candidate election expenses are not to exceed $50,000.

Surplus campaign funds held by a candidate at the end of the campaign period may be held in trust for the candidate's use at the next election.

A candidate's campaign that is in a deficit position at the end of the campaign period must eliminate the deficit within three months following the campaign return filing deadline date.

Authority for the reporting of candidate registration and financial statement information is provided by the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act and is available in the Public Files at Elections Alberta. 

Definitions:

Original - A scanned version of the financial statement in the prescribed format, and a list of contributor names and amounts for contributions over $250 in aggregate where applicable, as submitted to Elections Alberta.* 

Original Not Available - The financial statement a) has not been received by Elections Alberta, b) has been received but not accepted as filed, or c) has been received and accepted, and is in the process of being scanned and published to this website.

Final - A final approved version of the financial statement and list of contributor names and amounts for contributions over $250 in aggregate where applicable, after it has undergone review and any necessary amendments by Elections Alberta.*

Final Not Available - The financial statement a) has not been received by Elections Alberta, b) has been received but not accepted as filed, or c) has been received and accepted, and is under review.

* Prior to January 1, 2013 the contribution disclosure threshold was over $375.