QUOTE:
Candidates

A candidate's election expenses limit is the maximum amount of money that he or she is allowed to spend in an election campaign. The amount will vary from one electoral district to another, based on a formula set out in the Canada Elections Act. The Chief Electoral Officer calculates the limit for each electoral district, as follows:

Step 1: Spending limits are initially based on the number of names appearing on the preliminary lists of electors or on the revised lists of electors for the electoral district, whichever is greater. The Chief Electoral Officer publishes in the Canada Gazette not later than the 31st day before election day the number of names on the preliminary lists of electors, and no later than the 7th day before election day the number of names on the revised lists of electors. The limit is then calculated at:

$2.07 for each of the first 15,000 electors
$1.04 for each of the next 10,000 electors
$0.52 for each elector over 25,000

Step 2: The Act provides for an adjustment for candidates running in electoral districts where there are fewer electors than the national average. For the financial calculation in step 1, the number of electors is deemed to be halfway between the number on the preliminary lists for the electoral district and the average number on all preliminary lists.

Step 3: The Act also provides an adjustment for geographically large electoral districts. If the number of electors per square kilometre of the electoral district is less than 10, the candidate's spending limit is increased by the lesser of $0.31 per square kilometre or 25% of the amount calculated in step 1.

Step 4: The limits are then adjusted by the inflation adjustment factor in effect on the day of the issue of the writs for the election.