Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 20th, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I will now call the meeting to order.

Colleagues, I want to remind you that this meeting is being televised and will be broadcast on CPAC at a later time.

Ladies and gentlemen, members, on Friday, February 9, 2007, pursuant to Standing Order 111.1(1), the nomination of Monsieur Marc Mayrand to the position of Chief Electoral Officer was referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for consideration and potential ratification by members. We do have 30 days; however, following this meeting, if the committee deems it appropriate, we can in fact report to the House as early as tomorrow.

Monsieur Mayrand, welcome to the committee. Thank you very much for coming, sir. I will open the floor to you at this point for any statement that you might have, and then we will go to the usual round of questioning following your statement.

Mr. Mayrand.

[Marc Mayrand, Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Members of the committee, it is a privilege and an honour for me to be here today to discuss my nomination as Chief Electoral Officer.

Let me first briefly introduce myself. I was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, where the Saint-Maurice River and the St. Lawrence River meet. I went to college in Montreal and subsequently studied law at the University of Ottawa where I graduated in civil law in 1976. I was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1977.

After briefly practising law at legal aid in Saint-Henri, Montreal, I taught law for four years at the Civil Law Section of the University of Ottawa before taking part in the Canada Interchange Program with what was then known as the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, to assist with pending insolvency reform. After returning to teaching, I was recruited by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy where I have been working in various capacities for the last 25 years except for a one-year education leave I took to pursue a master's degree in law at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.

I am happily married and the proud father of two very fine teenagers, Francis and Maxime.

As you can see from my bio, I have had a very specialized career in the little-known but yet critical field of insolvency. More specifically, over the last 10 years, I have been in the position of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, the head of the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, a special operating agency of Industry Canada.

The OSB is the regulatory agency mandated with overseeing insolvency activities in Canada. As such, the superintendent is vested with a wide range of authorities that includes the licensing of individuals and corporations handling the liquidation of assets and reorganizations of the financial affairs of individuals and businesses alike.

The superintendent is responsible for their on-going monitoring; the oversight of accounting in insolvency cases; the adjudication of matters involving the professional conduct of licensees; the keeping of public records of insolvency proceedings; the recording and handling of complaints; the investigation of offences under the Bankruptcy Act or any other act, if these offences would not be investigated otherwise.

Finally, and more generally, the superintendent has the responsibility, under the act, for the setting of standards for the conduct of parties involved in insolvency proceedings, in particular, the trusts, the creditors, and of course the debtors. But an even more general responsibility of the superintendent is to issue directives having the force of law to facilitate the carrying out of purposes and provisions of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

In 2006 there were over 106,000 insolvencies registered in Canada involving close to $6 billion in assets and $12.5 billion in liabilities. The insolvency system plays a significant social and economic role for debtors first, but also for creditors and for society as a whole.

The insolvency regime has become a tool of industrial adjustment, allowing businesses and individuals to adjust to various shocks that happen in the economy. It allows investors and lenders to assess their exposure and cost their capital accordingly. It provides a safety net for honest entrepreneurs and individuals, giving them a chance for a fresh start while sanctioning the behaviour of those who are less honest.

I bring these matters of my current function to your attention because I believe they are somewhat analogous to the functions and responsibilities assigned to the Chief Electoral Officer.

As a regulator, I've always thought that my first and foremost responsibility was to carry out my functions at all times with independence and objectivity, free from third-party influence, and doing so always in support of Parliament’s intention and for the greater public good. As a regulator, I have always carried out my functions guided by what I consider to be the core values of access, transparency, consistency, and fairness. As a regulator, I believe my role is to ensure that rules and standards are relevant; that they are kept modern; that they are clear; and that people are aware of those rules and understand the behaviour expected. I believe the rules should be applied consistently, and whenever they are broken, we should act fairly but decisively against violators, always having due consideration for the rigorous stewardship of resources.

While, as you can tell, I do not have specific expertise in electoral matters, I have spent most of my professional life in the administration of the law. I have managed a diverse and decentralized organization, dealing with a wide range of stakeholders, always seeking to ensure that our programs and services were responsive to an ever-changing environment and providing value to all participants.

I believe Elections Canada plays a critical role in our democracy. It must ensure that all electors can exercise their right to vote. It is important that electors have confidence that the electoral process is impartial, accessible, fair, transparent, efficient, and free from manipulations.

I can assure you that should the committee and the House express their trust in my abilities to perform the functions of Chief Electoral Officer, I will work every single day that I am in the position to earn and keep your trust, and I will do so in accordance with the values that I've just described.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Merci, Monsieur Mayrand.

Colleagues, we will begin our first round of questions. We will start with an eight-minute round, and perhaps, if needed, we will decrease that as we go.

Madame Robillard, you are first. Thank you.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to welcome you to the committee, Mr. Mayrand. We are pleased to have you with us today. I have been looking at your curriculum vitae—and you referred to this in your opening statement as well—and I must say that I was relatively impressed with your stability. You have remained within the same organization throughout your career. If I exclude the year you spent with legal aid and the years you were teaching, you have spent almost 25 years in the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. That is a great deal of career stability.

Could you tell us what your career plan was a few years back?

[Marc Mayrand]

It is true that mine has been a relatively stable career. However, I did hold different positions within the organization. I find this field fascinating. It offers interesting challenges and touches on all sorts of aspects of social and economic life. It has enabled me to work both nationally and internationally on occasion. As you know, in the recent past, following the financial crisis in the 90s, there was a movement on the part of international financial institutions to have developing countries establish the legal framework they required to facilitate economic activity. This area led to my involvement in a number of social and economic issues. My area of work has given me and continues to give me a great deal of satisfaction.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Did you think you would spend your entire professional life in this area?

[Marc Mayrand]

I have never been much for career planning. Rather, I considered the challenges facing me, and if I found them interesting, I was always concerned about serving the people involved to the best of my abilities.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

You say that you have never done much career planning, Mr. Mayrand. Am I to understand that you never approached the government or indicated that you were interested in the position of Chief Electoral Officer?

[Marc Mayrand]

That is correct.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

You never approached the government.

[Marc Mayrand]

I did nothing along those lines.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Did the government approach you directly?

[Marc Mayrand]

I was approached by the Privy Council Office.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

If I understand correctly, you were asked whether you would be interested in this position.

[Marc Mayrand]

I did not know what position I would be asked to fill. I was simply asked whether I was interested in a career change at this point in my professional life.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

If I understand correctly, without doing any career planning, you simply replied that you were interested in studying what was being offered.

[Marc Mayrand]

Yes, it depended on the conditions involved and the nature of the position.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

In your opinion, Mr. Mayrand, in addition to the regulatory role you mentioned in your presentation, what aspect of your professional experience qualifies you for this position?

[Marc Mayrand]

I think I do have adequate management experience. I headed a highly decentralized organization—it has 14 offices throughout the country. This organization has a very specific mandate under the legislation, and it carries it out independently. Most decisions made by the office are subject to review by the courts, either a bankruptcy court or the Federal Court. In recent years, the office has grown tremendously because of developments in the economy. It has been quite innovative. In fact, this is one of the few organizations whose funding is provided by access to user fees. Our mandate is to carry out our activities using the revenues generated by our activities. I therefore have had to meet a financial challenge over the years.

I have also been called upon to run some significant initiatives regarding electronic services, which means that 98% of the insolvency cases in Canada are processed electronically today. We are all proud of this project, because it was carried out on time and within budget, and now means that over 95% of insolvency cases can be processed in this way.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Mayrand, you said in your opening statement that you have no particular expertise when it comes to elections. You know how important it is for our democracy that the system be effective and transparent. It's also important for people to know that the Chief Electoral Officer is politically neutral.

So, I'll go ahead and ask you the question very directly: Have you previously been a member of any political party?

[Marc Mayrand]

No, I have not—not at any level, nor in any capacity.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

You have never been a member of a political party at any point throughout the course of your career.

[Marc Mayrand]

That is correct.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Would you please tell me, Mr. Mayrand, at what point the Privy Council, or the government, approached you and raised this possibility?

[Marc Mayrand]

In January. I can remember quite clearly, the first meeting took place January 8. It was a preliminary meeting. I was approached to have the discussion that I referred to a little earlier, but no reference was made to any particular position.