Mr. Kingsley, it is always a pleasure to see you again.
I would like to come back to the way returning officers are appointed, but before that, I would like to tell you about something that happened in my riding during the last election.
The chief Liberal organizer had recommended a candidate for a returning officer. The organizer put a lot of pressure on this woman, and she asked us to talk to you about it, because she felt very intimidated by the organizer. This happened as a consequence of returning officers being appointed by the party in power, by the government. It was a very unfortunately experience for the returning officer, and you had to step in and tell this man to stop intimidating voters who had come to the advance poll. A person even came to see me and said that there were people at the door who were scaring him. The returning officer could not control the situation. Since the appointment had been recommended by the organizer, the organizer thought he could abuse the process.
I hope that the problems associated with appointing returning officers will be eliminated with Bill C-2. The bill does not refer to a public competition or to an external appointment process, as it called in the jargon of the federal public service. So how will candidates be recruited?