- What provincial information is included in the Financial Reports and Political Contributions (FRPC) System?
The Financial Reports and Political Contributions (FRPC) System is a database containing:
- Scanned images of all provincial financial reports filed with Elections BC, including those filed under the Election Act, the Recall and Initiative Act and the Electoral Reform Referendum 2018 Act.
- Political contributions made to registered political parties, registered constituency associations, candidates or leadership contestants, including:
- Contribution details for contributors who made political contributions under the Election Act of money, property or services with a value greater than $250
- Total permitted anonymous contributions
- Total contributions of contributors who contributed $250 or less
- Combined political contributions reported by political parties.
- Sponsorship contributions made to third party advertising sponsors, including:
- Contribution details for contributors who made sponsorship contributions under the Election Act of money, property or services with a value greater than $250
- Total permitted anonymous contributions
- Total contributions of contributors who contributed $250 or less
- Election summary data for financial reports filed by political parties, constituency associations, candidates, and third party election advertising sponsors.
Contribution information for initiative, recall and referendum participants can only be found by viewing their financial reports.
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- What is the difference between the Political Contributions and Sponsorship Contributions?
A political contribution is an amount of money or value of property or services provided without compensation to a political party, constituency association, candidate, or leadership contestant.
A sponsorship contribution is an amount of money or value of property or services provided without compensation to a third party advertising sponsor where the contributor consented to the third party sponsor to use the contribution to sponsor election advertising.
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- What is the difference between the Political Contributions search, the Combined Political Contributions search, and the Interim Political Contributions search?
The Political Contributions search can be used to search for political contributions from election financing reports, annual financial reports, and deregistration financial reports from registered political parties and registered constituency associations, election financing reports from candidates and leadership contestant reports from leadership contestants. The Political Contributions search searches for contributions reported on form Sm-C (Summary of Political Contributions), which includes forms S-A1 (Political Contributions with a Value Greater Than $250) and S-A2 (Permitted Anonymous Contributions Accepted at Functions). These forms are used by provincial candidates, political parties, constituency associations, and leadership contestants to disclose political contributions made during the applicable reporting period.
The Combined Political Contributions search can be used to search for contributions disclosed on form S-A1-A (Combined Contributions to Political Party, Constituency Associations and Candidates with a Total Value Greater Than $250). Form S-A1-A is only used by provincial political parties in their annual financial reports and deregistration financial reports. This form reports the political contributions made by contributors who, during the calendar year, made contributions to one or more of the registered political party, a registered constituency association for the party, or a candidate for the party that, in total, have a value of greater than $250.
For example, a contributor gave $100 to 10 candidates for the same party in the same calendar year:
The name of the contributor would not appear in the Political Contribution search, because the total contributed to each candidate is $250 or less. Instead, the contributions would be included in the candidates’ total contributions by class. However, the contributor’s information and each individual contribution would appear in the Combined Political Contribution search, because the combined total of political contributions is greater than $250 (10 candidates x $100 = $1,000).
The Interim Political Contributions search can be used to search for political contributions reported by political parties that are eligible to receive an allowance payment from Elections BC on interim financial reports. Parties that are eligible to receive an allowance payment from Elections BC must file interim financial reports for the following interim reporting periods:
For 2018, the interim reporting periods are:
- January 1 to June 30;
- July 1 to December 31.
For 2019 and subsequent years, the interim reporting periods are:
- January 1 to March 31;
- April 1 to June 30;
- July 1 to September 30;
- October 1 to December 31.
The annual financial reports from political parties that are eligible to receive an allowance payment from Elections BC contain all political contributions that they reported on interim financial reports from that calendar year.
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- Where can I find the details for political contributions made to registered political entities prior to 2005?
The provincial information included in the political contributions database only contains political contributions made to registered political entities since January 1, 2005.
Elections BC does not have a searchable database for political contributions made prior to 2005. To view the details of political contributions made before 2005, please use the Search Provincial Financial Reports screen. You will need to search for the filer and report you are interested in, and view forms Sm-C, S-A1 and/or S-A1-A.
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- Are contributions to recall or initiative participants included in the contribution searches?
No. Contributions under the Recall and Initiative Act are not political contributions and are not included in the political contributions database.
However, you can view all financial reports filed with Elections BC using the Search Provincial Financial Reports screen.
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- Are contributions to referendum participants included in the contribution searches?
No. However, you can view financial reports related to referendums filed with Elections BC using the Search Provincial Financial Reports screen.
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- There are no contributor names published for “Total Contributions of $250 or Less” – what is the difference between those contributions and “Total Anonymous Contributions”?
Anonymous contributions must be less than $50 each and can only be accepted in response to a general solicitation for funds at an event held by, or on behalf of, the individual or organization to whom the contribution is given, and have a value of less than $50, i.e. a pass the hat.
For all other contributions, the financial agent must record specific information for each contribution they receive, including the full name and address of the contributor, the class of the contributor, the contribution type, the event date, if applicable, the contribution date, and amount. If that contributor makes one or more political contributions during the reporting period that total more than $250, the Election Act requires all of this information, except for the address, to be disclosed in the financing report. For all other contributions, the Election Act does not require contributor information to be disclosed, so they are reported as an accumulated total.
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- What does the information in the ED Boundary Established column mean?
Electoral districts (ED) are reviewed and revised after every second general election. If the filer you are searching is registered in relation to a specific electoral district, the year in this column represents when the electoral district boundaries were established.
This information does not indicate the year the filer was registered with Elections BC.
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- Using the political contributions database, I entered a partial name in the Partial Contributor Name box and clicked Search. The results show no contributors with that name, but there are contributions listed. Why?
When the FRPC System searches by partial contributor name, it looks for contributor and principal officer names that include the text entered in the Partial Contributor Name box. There may be principal officers or other contributors with similar names to the contributor you searched for.
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- For the Political Contributions search, I selected an event from the drop down box. Why can’t I also select a contribution date?
Financial reports have different reporting periods depending on the event and the filer type.
For example, annual financial reports for constituency associations and political parties contain political contributions made during the calendar year, from January 1 to December 31, while election financing reports are from January 1 to General Voting Day. Candidate and leadership contestant financing reports have no specific reporting period and must include all transactions in relation to their campaign.
If an event is selected from the Event Name drop down, the contribution date fields are greyed out in order to ensure that all applicable search results are returned. If you would like to filter those search results further, this can be done by downloading the contribution information.
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- Is it possible to determine who made political contributions at fundraising functions?
Registered political parties, registered constituency associations, candidates and leadership contestants are required to report if one of their contributors purchased a fundraising function ticket for more than $250, purchased property/services at a fundraising function for more than $250 above market value, or donated property/services with a value greater than $250 for sale at a fundraising function. These contributions are identified in the Financial Reports and Political Contributions (FRPC) System as having a Contribution Type of 1, 2, or 3, respectively.
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- Is it possible to determine if someone received a tax receipt for a contribution?
No. It is not possible to determine if a contributor received a tax receipt for their contribution. The total dollar value of all income tax receipts issued by a filer during the reporting period is reported on the Summary of Political Contributions by Class form (Sm-C). You can view this form by using the Search Provincial Financial Reports screen and searching for the filer and the report you are interested in viewing.
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- Is it possible to determine if a political contribution was monetary or non-monetary?
Generally, it is not possible to determine if a political contribution was monetary or for goods or services. The total value of political contributions reported includes contributions of money and the fair market value of contributed goods or services.
Political contributions that are donations of property/services with a value greater than $250 for sale at a fundraising function are specifically identifiable, as registered political parties, registered constituency associations, candidates, and leadership contestants must disclose if the contribution is this type (type 3).
The Summary of Political Contributions by Class form (Sm-C) contains a summary of the total value of political contributions, which includes a total sum of all contributions of all non-monetary contributions received. You can view this form by using the Search Provincial Financial Reports screen and searching for the filer and the report you are interested in viewing.
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- Who should I contact if I made a political contribution and my name is not reported as a contributor, or my contribution is not reported correctly?
If the total value of all political contributions that you made to a political entity during a calendar year or election had a value greater than $250, and your name is not disclosed, please contact the financial agent for the political entity and Elections BC.
Likewise, if your contribution has been reported incorrectly, please contact the financial agent for the political entity and Elections BC.
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- Why are there multiple versions of the same financial reports published? Which one should I look at?
All financial reports are published in FRPC as they are filed with Elections BC.
If there are any changes to the information disclosed in a report, an amended report must be filed. Once the amended report has been filed, the amendment is published in FRPC.
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- I cannot find a financial report for an organization who participated in a previous election. Why?
Filers are identified in FRPC by their current name. If an organization has changed their name, the previous name may not be included in the Filer Name dropdown, and all previous reports filed by that organization will be updated with the current name.
If you cannot find the filer you are looking for using the current name, please contact Elections BC.
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- Who should I contact if I do not agree with the information reported?
Please contact the financial agent for the political entity and Elections BC.
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- Why is the downloaded political contribution information saved as a text file (.txt) and not a spreadsheet like Excel?
There are thousands of records in some of the downloadable files. There are no limitations on the number of records that can be saved in a text file (.txt). Some versions of Excel will not allow more than 65,536 records and will not allow you to download all political contribution records. However, the text files are tab-delimited, which allows for easy uploading or copying and pasting into Excel.
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- What is a contribution type and how is it different from the contribution class?
A contribution type indicates the way a contribution was made, whereas the contribution class indicates what kind of entity made the contribution. Contribution types only apply for contributions made after 2017.
The contribution types are:
- 1 – Fundraising function ticket sold for more than $250
- 2 – Property/services purchased for more than $250 above market value at a fundraising function
- 3 – Property/services with a value greater than $250 donated for sale at a fundraising function
- 4 – Fees to attend a political party convention
- 5 – Fees to attend a political party leadership convention
- 6 – Contributions by candidate/contestant for personal expense
- 9 – All other contributions received
Effective January 1, 2018, only eligible individuals are permitted to make contributions. The contributor classes for prior contributions are:
- 1 – Individual
- 2 – Corporation
- 3 – Unincorporated Business/Commercial Organization (e.g. sole proprietorship or partnership)
- 4 – Trade Union
- 5 – Non-Profit Organization
- 6 – Other
- Anon – Anonymous
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- What information does the Election Summary search include?
The Election Summary search can be used to search for the total inflows and outflows reported by political parties, constituency associations, candidates, and third party sponsors in financial reports that are related to an election.
Further details about each entity’s inflows and outflows can be seen by clicking on the View Details button.
For political parties and candidates, the Election Summary search can also be used to see if they were eligible for reimbursement, and if so, the amount they have claimed for reimbursement.
It is not a requirement that all eligible parties and candidates submit a claim for reimbursement.
Reimbursement claims will be reviewed to confirm expenses are eligible. This may result in the reimbursement claim amount being updated to reflect what is paid by Elections BC.
Election summary information is only available for elections held after 2018.
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- Are there any restrictions on what expenses can be claimed for reimbursement?
Most election expenses are eligible for reimbursement, with some exceptions. The Election Act defines election expenses as property or services used during a campaign period to promote or oppose a candidate or party (either directly or indirectly).
Reimbursements cannot be claimed for:
- property or services that are provided to a candidate or political party as a political contribution;
- property or services that are not used during the campaign period;
- property that was reused, and reimbursed in a previous election;
- donations and gifts;
- expenses incurred exclusively for the day-to-day administration of a registered political party or constituency association;
- expenses related to fundraising activities, including the cost of purchasing goods that will be sold for the purpose of raising funds or cost of hosting a fundraising function;
- a deficit incurred in holding a fundraising function during the campaign period;
- the cost of purchasing alcohol or cannabis; and
- any salaries paid by a campaign to the candidate, including benefits.
Election expense reimbursements are separate from the annual allowances (per vote subsidies) that are paid in January and July each year.
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