Brown was biggest spender during Charlottetown election campaign

For the first time, the City of Charlottetown has released election spending information for candidates who ran in a municipal election.

That's a new requirement for all P.E.I. municipalities under the Municipal Government Act.

Files posted to Charlottetown's website Wednesday show how much each candidate spent and how much they took in in contributions for the election last November.

Under the legislation, candidates are required to list the names of donors who contributed more than $250 to their campaigns.

There was a big disparity from top to bottom in spending among the five candidates who ran for mayor. The biggest spender, Philip Brown, was also the winner. William McFadden earned the distinction of being the only candidate for mayor or council who spent nothing on his campaign, according to his submission.

According to the city's website, Jamie Larkin did not provide his expense submission to the city. Larkin told CBC he lost the detailed information when his computer died, but provided the total numbers.

Among the candidates running in the city's 10 wards, the three biggest spenders also came up losers:

The biggest expenditure on Gomez' expense form was listed as pumpkins, which apparently cost his campaign $2,470 — he used them instead of campaign signs.

While the requirement to post all candidates' contributions and expenses kicked in for the 2018 municipal elections, limits on spending were deferred until the next round of elections.

No Charlottetown candidates in 2018 reached the limits which have been put in legislation: $10,000 for candidates for councillor, $50,000 for mayoral candidates.

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