No, I should be the one to apologize. The deadline was indeed allowed to slide by. I think that it is now up to the Governor in Council to take action. As for myself, I complied with the provisions of the act which stipulate that I must inform the Governor in Council in writing whenever a returning officer position becomes vacant. I am waiting for new returning officers to be appointed.
Since we did have deputy returning officers in those ridings, we were able to make acting appointments. As I have already said, it is important for returning officer positions to be filled. If returning officers cannot be appointed on a permanent basis, there should at least be temporary appointments in case there are elections. With a minority government, that is much more likely than it might otherwise be.