Mr. Chair, the external appointment process in the Public Service Employment Act is defined as a process for making one or more appointments in which persons may be considered whether or not they're employed in the public service. It's unclear to me at this point how the proposed amendment would provide for open competitions. The way I read the amendment, it would just require a process where people outside the public service are considered, if we apply the definition that's found in the Public Service Employment Act.
It may be useful to the committee for me to go through what Bill C-2 provides right now. Bill C-2 provides that the Chief Electoral Officer has to develop a process to determine merit, and that he has to submit this process to the House of Commons. During the Chief Electoral Officer's appearance before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs last fall on Bill C-312, it was proposed to implement an independent process for the appointment of returning officers. The Chief Electoral Officer indicated that he would provide for processes where an eligibility list can be used. So where there is a competition to fill a vacancy, he would be allowed to set up an eligibility list. And if there's a further vacancy, he can just pick a name from that list without having the need to open a new competition.
Another thing he mentioned he would use is the reappointment of returning officers who have satisfactory past performance. So when returning officers have proved they are able to meet the merit requirements through their performance on election day, he would reappoint them to any vacancy.