Thank you.
With me is Audrey Nowack, who is senior legal counsel with the commissioner's office. She has spent much more time in the office and knows the legislation a lot better than I do.
I'd like to make a presentation in order to identify to you some issues that have changed or developed in the time that I've been there.
This is the first time I have appeared before this committee as Commissioner of Elections Canada. I was appointed Commissioner on September 18. I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to you about the activities of my office and to answer your questions.
First, I'll talk about the Commissioner's role, the observation processes and enforcement of the Canada Elections Act already in place and of those newly passed.
I will begin by discussing the history of the Commissioner's role.
Before 1974, no federal officer was responsible for enforcing the Canada Elections Act. That year, the position of Commissioner of Election Expenses was therefore created. The Commissioner's mandate was to oversee enforcement of the new financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act, which had been added to the act at the time.
In 1977, the responsibilities of the Commissioner, renamed the Commissioner of Federal Elections, were expanded to cover all provisions of the act, a mandate similar to today's.
In 1993, a national network of investigators retained on contract and trained by my office was set up to carry out the investigations on behalf of the commissioner. Previously these had been done by the RCMP.
There is still a memorandum of understanding in place between the Commissioner of Elections Canada and the Commissioner of the RCMP to provide assistance to the RCMP when needed, assistance, for example, of computer experts, information technologists, forensic accountants. There may be, from time to time, a joint investigation by the RCMP and the commissioner's office.
A chief investigator is located in my office, who is assisted by seven assistant chief investigators. These people coordinate the investigations carried out in the field by 28 investigators across the country, located in the major cities primarily.
To bring fairness and consistency to the process, the rules, the policies, the procedures related to investigations are set out in an investigator's manual, which is available on the Elections Canada website. The manual is currently being updated to reflect changes in legislation enacted by Bill C-2 and other amendments to law.
As commissioner, I have a number of legal advisers at headquarters to assist in the management of the investigations, and as you may know, prosecutions are now to be handled by the new Federal Prosecution Service, headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Until December 12, I was responsible for prosecutions under the Canada Elections Act as well. I am now responsible for making referrals from my office to the Director of Public Prosecutions. The office is quite small.
Powers and responsibilities of the commissioner. Section 509 of the act is the main section that creates the duty, the mandate, to ensure the act is complied with and enforced. To accomplish these duties, the commissioner is authorized to take any measures necessary in the public interest, including launching an inquiry, seeking an injunction, entering a compliance agreement, recommending a prosecution.
Complaints are received from a variety of sources. They may come from candidates or their representatives, officials of political parties, concerned members of the public; however, the largest single source of cases by far is the referrals generated by Elections Canada itself. For instance, in the 2004 election, or arising therefrom, 75% of all our casework were referrals from Elections Canada.