References: Canada Elections Act (2000, c. 9) -- [ LINK ]

Elections Canada -- [ LINK ]

References: Canada Elections Act ( 2000, c. 9 ) -- [ LINK ]

Elections Canada -- [ LINK ]

The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed after consultation with the leaders of all political parties in the federal Parliament, and serves until mandatory retirement age of 65.

NOTE: One ongoing past concern was resolved by the passage of Bill C-2, the Federal Accountability Act, in December 2006. Before the passage of this law, the ruling party Cabinet appointed Returning Officers, who are the front-line people who run polling stations in each riding and are the first level of appeal for any complaints about voters or voting. Under the changes to the Canada Elections Act made by Bill C-2, the Chief Electoral Officer now has the power and mandate to appoint Returning Officers under section 24 of the Act.

References: - The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed under section 13 of the Canada Elections Act ( 2000, c. 9) -- [ LINK ] -- as the head of Elections Canada -- [ LINK ] -- by the federal Cabinet after a resolution is passed in the federal House of Commons, and serves until mandatory retirement age of 65.

- The Chief Electoral Officer appoints a Commissioner of Elections under section 509 of the Canada Elections Act, whose role is enforcement of the Act (including prosecution through the Director of Public Prosecutions)

- The Chief Electoral Officer also appoints a Broadcasting Arbitrator under section 332 of the Canada Elections Act (if registered political parties' representatives cannot reach a unanimous decision on the dividing up of free TV and radio broadcast time during a federal election campaign period, and cannot reach a unanimous decision on the choice of the Arbitrator). The Arbitrator determines the free broadcast time each party will receive during the election campaign.

- There are no requirements in law that the Chief Electoral Officer, the Commissioner of Elections, or the Broadcasting Arbitrator have any professional qualifications, and the recently appointed Chief Electoral Officer has no experience heading up an election agency.

NOTE: one ongoing past concern was resolved by the passage of Bill C-2, the Federal Accountability Act, in December 2006. Before the passage of this law, the ruling party Cabinet appointed Returning Officers, who are the front-line people who run polling stations in each riding and are the first level of appeal for any complaints about voters or voting. Under the changes to the Canada Elections Act made by Bill C-2, the Chief Electoral Officer now has the power and mandate to appoint Returning Officers under section 24 of the Act.

References: - The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed under section 13 of the Canada Elections Act ( 2000, c. 9) -- [ LINK ] -- as the head of Elections Canada -- [ LINK ] -- by the federal Cabinet after a resolution is passed in the federal House of Commons, and serves until mandatory retirement age of 65.

- The Chief Electoral Officer appoints a Commissioner of Elections under section 509 of the Canada Elections Act, whose role is enforcement of the Act (including prosecution through the Director of Public Prosecutions)

- The Chief Electoral Officer also appoints a Broadcasting Arbitrator under section 332 of the Canada Elections Act (if registered political parties' representatives cannot reach a unanimous decision on the dividing up of free TV and radio broadcast time during a federal election campaign period, and cannot reach a unanimous decision on the choice of the Arbitrator). The Arbitrator determines the free broadcast time each party will receive during the election campaign.

- There are no requirements in law that the Chief Electoral Officer, the Commissioner of Elections, or the Broadcasting Arbitrator have any professional qualifications, and the recently appointed Chief Electoral Officer has no experience heading up an election agency.

NOTE: one ongoing past concern was resolved by the passage of Bill C-2, the Federal Accountability Act, in December 2006. Before the passage of this law, the ruling party Cabinet appointed Returning Officers, who are the front-line people who run polling stations in each riding and are the first level of appeal for any complaints about voters or voting. Under the changes to the Canada Elections Act made by Bill C-2, the Chief Electoral Officer now has the power and mandate to appoint Returning Officers under section 24 of the Act.

Peer Review Comments: These monitory agencies (i.e., federal and provincial) are indeed properly staffed and funded. They are capable of starting investigations during and after elections, and of producing reports.

References: - Reports after general elections and by-elections (elections held in specific electoral districts vacated for whatever reason by a Member of the House of Commons in between general elections) are made public on a timely basis by the Chief Electoral Officer -- [ LINK ])=e&textonly=false

Peer Review Comments: These monitory agencies (i.e., federal and provincial) are properly staffed and funded and are capable of producing reports.

References: - Elections Canada sentencing digest webpage -- [ LINK ])=e&textonly=false

- However, since 2000, the Commissioner of Canada Elections has been empowered under the Canada Elections Act to reach compliance agreements with violators (or likely violators) of the Act, and has used this process several times instead of prosecuting and seeking penalties. [ LINK ])=e&textonly=false

- Also, in the "Enforcement" section of the October 2004 report on the process and results of the June 2004 election, the Chief Electoral Officer reported that 505 complaints had been filed, 389 had been resolved, 116 remained open, and that "As the cases progress, updated statistics on complaints, investigations and prosecutions appear in the Chief Electoral Officer's periodic reports and publications, as well as on the Elections Canada Web site". However, details about the 505 complaints (the nature of the complaint, the results of the investigation, the nature of the resolution of the complaint) are not in the report, nor in any other publicly available report from Elections Canada, and the Compliance Agreement and Sentencing Digest Web pages set out above contain details about only a dozen or so cases from 2004. [ LINK ])=e&textonly=false#sec96

- When legal limits on federal political donations first came into force on Jan. 1, 2004, there were media reports of donations above the limits during the May-June 2004 federal election, and further media reports that Elections Canada only required the donations to be returned.

- In section 4.2.4 of the Electoral Law Enforcement of the May 2006 report on the process and results of the January 2006 election, the Chief Electoral Officer reported that 329 complaints had been filed, 231 had been resolved, 98 remained open, and that "As cases progress, updated statistics on complaints, compliance agreements and prosecutions appear in the Chief Electoral Officer's periodic reports and publications". However, details about the 329 complaints (the nature of the complaint, the results of the investigation, the nature of the resolution of the complaint) are not in the report, nor in any other publicly available report from Elections Canada, and the Compliance Agreement and Sentencing Digest Web pages set out above contain details about only a dozen or so cases from 2006. [ LINK ])=e&textonly=false#p4_24

Peer Review Comments: I would like to underscore the fact that provincial monitoring agencies are capable of producing reports concerning complaints about provincial referendums in Quebec and of identifying serious breach in the law by the federal government. However, no penalties have been imposed.

References: - Under Part 4 (sections 44 to 56) of the Canada Elections Act (2000, c. 9) -- [ LINK ] -- there is a "Register of Electors" (voters) maintained by Elections Canada that is updated by voters registering or indicating changes on their annual tax forms, or census forms, or other forms submitted to government institutions in which the voter can indicate that their information can be shared with Elections Canada to ensure the Register is up-to-date.

- In addition, voters receive a notice of who is registered to vote at the address at which they live early on during each federal election campaign period, and may register or make changes to their registration in advance of an election by submitting a form to Elections Canada, or may also register at the polling station on election voting day if they present adequate identification showing that they are a resident of the electoral district.

- In addition, in electoral districts which have frequent changes to the Register, the Chief Electoral Officer has conducted door-to-door enumeration efforts in an attempt to ensure that the Register is up-to-date.

- An ongoing problem occurs when elections are held in May or September/October, as during those time periods hundreds of thousands of university and college students move cities or provinces (at the end or beginning of the school year) and, as a result, they are often unable to vote as they are registered to vote in the electoral district of their old residence, and/or they do not have adequate identification to prove that they are a resident of their new electoral district (especially given that federal election campaign periods are not required by law to be longer than 35 days). As Bill C-16 passed into law in May 2007 amending the Canada Elections Act (by adding sections 56.1 and 56.2 and making related changes) to fix the date of elections every four years on the Monday of the 3rd week of October (except when a minority government exists and an election results from a vote in the House of Commons against the minority ruling party), this problem is now somewhat solved.

- An ongoing, more difficult problem, is that people without a residence are often also without adequate identification needed to prove that they are residents in an electoral district.

References: - Sections 299 to 312 (Part 14) of the Canada Elections Act (2000, c. 9) -- [ LINK ]

References: - Under subsection 300(1) (in Part 14) of the Canada Elections Act, judicial recounts are automatic if certain conditions exist -- "300. (1) If the difference between the number of votes cast for the candidate with the most votes and the number cast for any other candidate is less than 1/1000 of the votes cast, the returning officer shall make a request to a judge for a recount within four days after the results are validated."

- Under subsection 301 of the Act, judicial recounts can also be applied for if there is reasonable grounds to believe that ballots have been rejected unjustifiably or counted incorrectly.

- Elections Canada's "Manual on Judicial Recounts" -- [ LINK ])=e&textonly=false

- There is no public evidence that applications for judicial recounts of federal election results have been unjustifiably rejected in recent years.

- There was only one automatic recount, and one application for a recount, following the January 2006 federal election.

Peer Review Comments: An example includes the November 2005 municipal election in the Quebec town of Saint Constant. Election results were thrown out earlier this year, after the mayor and his team of councilors were caught cheating during the campaign. The province's Superior Court ruled $15,000 was overspent during the campaign, annulling the results and placing the town's affairs in the hands of Quebec's Municipal Commission until the next municipal election in 2009.

References: - There have been no instances of military or security forces actively supporting or opposing federal political candidates or commenting on federal elections in recent decades.

Peer Review Comments: On election days, police cruisers routinely patrol areas around polling stations without any direct involvement (unless the general peace is disturbed).

Peer Review Comments: In the run-up to the 2006 federal election, the RCMP revealed it was investigating leaks in Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal cabinet. Some critics found the RCMP's intervention in the middle of the winter election troublesome. See Jack Aubry in "The Ottawa Citizen" via RCMPWatch.com: [ LINK ]

References: - Constitution Act, 1982, Schedule B, Part 1, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, subsection 2(a) "freedom of conscience and religion"; subsection 2(b) "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication", and subsection 2(d) "freedom of association" -- [ LINK ]

References: - Constitution Act, 1982, Schedule B, Part 1, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, subsection 2(a) "freedom of conscience and religion"; subsection 2(b) "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication", and subsection 2(d) "freedom of association" -- [ LINK ]

- There have been no publicly reported situations in which observers from other countries or international agencies have observed Canadian federal elections on a significant scale in recent decades (other than the embassies of other countries' general observation activities).