--- title: "$1,429.70: the donation limit behind every Vancouver campaign in 2026" description: "Who can give money to a Vancouver candidate, how much, what each campaign may spend, how third-party ads are policed, and the date in January 2027 when you can see who paid for this election." canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/campaign-donations-spending-limits-vancouver-2026" last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:01:13.609Z" --- Every campaign in Vancouver's October 17 election runs on money raised under one set of provincial rules. They decide who can give, how much, and how much a campaign can spend, and they make the records public after the vote. Elections BC enforces them under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act. Here is what they say for 2026. ## Only individuals can give Elections BC's 2026 guide is short on this point: "Campaign contributions cannot be made by organizations." A company, union, charity or business association cannot give money to a candidate or an elector organization, which is the legal term for a civic party such as ABC Vancouver or OneCity. An eligible donor must: - live in British Columbia, and - be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. Donors must use their own money. Giving money to someone else so that they can donate it is prohibited. ## The limit: $1,429.70 In 2026, an eligible individual can give a total of $1,429.70 to each local candidate or elector organization. Three details matter: - **A party and its candidates share one limit.** The cap applies to an elector organization and the candidates it endorses together, per calendar year. A donor cannot give the full amount to a party and then the full amount again to each of its candidates. - **Loans count.** A loan from an individual to a campaign counts toward the limit. - **Candidates are donors too.** Money a candidate puts into their own campaign is a contribution and falls under the same limit. Elections BC adjusts the limit each January for changes in consumer prices. Anonymous contributions are allowed up to $50 per donor for each candidate. Local campaign contributions do not qualify for a tax receipt. ## What each campaign can spend Elections BC published the 2026 spending limits on May 31, 2026. For Vancouver:
Race Spending limit per candidate
Mayor $257,500.52
Councillor $141,152.04
Park Board commissioner $141,152.04
School trustee $145,022.99
These limits apply during the campaign period, which ran from September 19 to October 17, 2026. A pre-campaign period started on July 20, 2026. ## Ads from people who are not running A union, business group, advocacy group or individual can advertise about the election without being a candidate. Elections BC calls them third-party advertising sponsors. They must: - register with Elections BC before running any ads, - put their name and contact information on every ad, - stay independent of candidates and parties, - keep within their spending limits, and - file a disclosure statement after the election. Each ad must say it was "authorized by" the sponsor, name the sponsor, state that it is a "registered sponsor under LECFA", and give a BC phone number, mailing address or email. If you see an election ad with none of that, you can report it to Elections BC. For 2026 in Vancouver, a sponsor's ads about candidates are limited to $12,875.03 in the mayor and council race, $12,875.03 in the Park Board race, and $8,936.16 in the school trustee race. Individuals can give a sponsor up to $1,429.70 this year. ## Key dates in the money calendar
Date What happened or happens
January 1, 2026 The 2026 election period began
May 31, 2026 Elections BC published the spending limits
July 20, 2026 The pre-campaign period began
July 31, 2026 Last day to apply to register an elector organization
September 18, 2026 Deadline for campaign financing arrangements
September 19, 2026 The campaign period began
October 17, 2026 General voting day, and the end of the campaign period
January 15, 2027 Disclosure statements due
February 16, 2027 Late filing deadline, with a $500 fee
## When the records become public This is the part that matters most for voters, and it arrives after the vote. Every candidate and elector organization must file a disclosure statement with Elections BC by **January 15, 2027**. A late filing is accepted until February 16, 2027 with a $500 fee. The statements go into Elections BC's Financial Reports and Political Contributions System, a public database. It holds scanned disclosure statements back to 2014 and a searchable list of contributions. You can look up a candidate, a party or a donor. Two ways to use it: 1. **Before you vote,** look up the 2022 filings of any party or incumbent to see who funded them last time. 2. **After January 15,** compare what the winning campaigns raised and spent with what they promised. ## What this means for the 2026 race The rules shape the campaigns you see. With corporate and union money barred, parties depend on many small individual donations and on volunteers. Spending limits keep the mayor's race below $257,500.52 per candidate during the campaign period, although money spent before September 19 falls under different rules. To compare what the candidates are promising, see [the comparison page](/compare) and each candidate's profile on [our candidates page](/candidates). For how the vote itself works, read our guide to [marking the Vancouver ballot](/news/how-to-mark-vancouver-ballot-2026). Elections BC is the authority on these rules. If anything here disagrees with elections.bc.ca, their page is correct. ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.