Rules of the game: What can and can't candidates do while campaigning?

With candidates in the 2019 N.W.T. election required to submit their nominations by the end of the week, the campaign to become part of the 19th Legislative Assembly has begun in earnest.

Signs are popping up around communities and candidates have begun publishing their platforms, door-knocking, and raising money and volunteer bases.

But when they're out campaigning, what can those candidates do or not do? It's often a tricky question, with sitting government members seeking re-election governed partly by the Legislative Assembly, while all candidates must follow the rules laid out in the territory's Elections Act.

With that in mind, we set out to answer some of the trickier questions around campaigning, from door-knocking, to finances, to what — and how — candidates can make promises on during their campaigns:

Door knocking

Door knocking is one of the staples of any election campaign, allowing candidates to speak directly to voters. According to the Elections Act, N.W.T. candidates have no time restrictions as to when they can door knock — meaning that, legally, you could have a candidate show up on your stoop at 6 a.m., or at midnight (whether that helps or hurts their campaign is another question entirely!).

However, there is one exception: when it comes to apartment buildings or other buildings with a shared entrance. If asked, landlords must give candidates permission to enter the building and to each resident's entrance — but only between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., according to the Elections Act.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

Nicole Latour, the chief electoral officer, says that one regular complaint to her office is that candidates' signs are up in constituencies other than their own — a sign for a Yellowknife Centre candidate up in Kam Lake, for example — but there is no law governing sign placement, besides the fact that they remain at least 25 metres from polling stations or the office of the returning officer. 

So, hypothetically, there's nothing stopping a candidate in Nunakput from putting up signs in Fort Smith. But, again, whether it's an effective campaign strategy is another question entirely.

Other rules around sign placement are set by local municipalities, and, on highways, the territory's infrastructure department. One such set of rules is in Yellowknife. The City of Yellowknife's Election Signs Bylaw sets designated "election sign zones" on which candidates can place a sign on public land.

None of those zones, however, fall within the constituency of Yellowknife Centre, meaning that the only signs that can be put up in that constituency have to go on private property.

No to government phone numbers, but yes to converted Facebook pages

Current sitting MLAs have several rules governing what they can and can't do — they can't use tax dollars to promote themselves three months prior to an election, and can't use taxpayer-funded resources in an election campaign. That includes phone numbers or email addresses paid with public funds.

At least one candidate in the 2019 campaign inadvertently skirted that rule. Current Education Minister Caroline Cochrane, who has turned her Facebook page used as an MLA into her campaign page, had her government phone number and email address listed as contact information as of Thursday afternoon, though different contact numbers and email addresses appear on her campaign website and Elections NWT filing.

After being asked for comment by CBC News, Cochrane said the outdated information was "a mistake" and immediately changed it.

While the use of government contact information is against the rules, using a converted MLA Facebook page is not. Latour said that there are no rules currently governing Facebook pages in the same way as mailing lists or other contact information collected in an incumbent's role as an MLA.

However, she said if an official complaint were to be filed, it could lead to her office making a recommendation to alter the Elections Act.

Campaign finances

The rules surrounding campaign finances are pretty clear: candidates have a set $30,000 spending limit during the course of the campaign, and no donations can come from outside the territory. The nuance comes in when the money can be collected — and spent.

Candidates can start spending campaign funds three months before the writs are issued, during the "pre-campaign period." However, they cannot start collecting donations until they are officially nominated as a candidate, during the week when the writs are issued.

Paid campaign staffers must be recorded and the money paid to them documented as a campaign expense. However, there are no recording requirements when it comes to volunteer staffers.

Campaign on platforms, not pledges

While candidates will make several promises to voters during the next month, one thing they are prohibited from is signing a written pledge that would force them to vote a certain way, if elected.

According to the Elections Act, candidates are prohibited from signing a document that requires them to "follow a course of action that will prevent them from exercising freedom of action" in the Legislative Assembly.

Essentially, Latour explained, candidates cannot put in writing that they will vote a certain way in order to receive a donation or an endorsement.

For example, iServeU, an e-voting platform popularized in the 2015 Yellowknife municipal election in which candidates pledged to vote based on the results of the platform, would be against the Elections Act if candidates signed a pledge to always vote according to its results.

What could happen?

Contravening the Elections Act could lead to fines or jail time. General election offences, like vandalizing campaign signs or campaigning too close to a polling station, could lead to punishments of up to a $2,000 fine or 6 months in jail, or both.

Bigger offences, like failing to deliver a complete or accurate financial report after the election, could lead to a $5,000 fine, or up to a year in jail, or both.

Do you have a question about campaign rules or finances? Email garrett.hinchey@cbc.ca and we'll get you an answer.