Good afternoon, and thank you, Mr. Preston, members of the committee, for inviting me to speak before you today on the topic of referendum legislation in Ontario and on our recent experience at Elections Ontario with a referendum in 2007.
I do want to note to begin, though, that I was appointed to the position of Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario in June 2008, and therefore I was not the Chief Electoral Officer at the time of the referendum and the general election in 2007. I understand that my predecessor as the CEO of Ontario, Mr. John Hollins, appeared before this committee last week to address the same topic. As he focused more on the operational experiences of the referendum, I will focus my attention on the legislative framework surrounding referendums in Ontario. I will spend some time discussing the legislative framework and then be happy to answer any questions you might have on the 2007 referendum or the related legislation.
The referendum we had in 2007 was the first referendum in Ontario in over 80 years. In terms of legislation guiding referendums in Ontario, we do not have a general referendum statute. The Taxpayer Protection Act of 1999 does have referendum provisions, but there has never been a referendum in Ontario under this legislation. I know that the Referendum Act governs referenda at the federal level, and that the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada is responsible for adapting the provisions of the Canada Elections Act to a referendum if one takes place. There is no similar referendum act at the provincial level, so in order for the referendum in 2007 to occur, specific legislation had to be passed to allow for it.
That specific referendum legislation for Ontario and the referendum itself that followed came about as a result of the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, which was mandated in 2006 to assess Ontario's electoral system, to consider alternatives, and make recommendations on it. The citizens' assembly made its final report in May 2007 and recommended that an alternative electoral system be established in Ontario. In 2006 the Electoral System Referendum Act had to be introduced. It provided that if the citizens' assembly recommended changes to the electoral system, a referendum on their recommendations would be held in conjunction with the 2007 general election. That legislation also included provisions for some key aspects of the referendum should it occur. These provisions included that the referendum question was to be defined by cabinet; the electoral system recommended by the citizens' assembly would have to receive at least 60% of the vote overall and more than 50% of the vote in at least 64 electoral districts to be considered binding; the Election Act would apply to the referendum with necessary modifications; and finally, the Chief Electoral Officer would oversee the financial affairs of referendum campaign organizers under a regulation made by cabinet.
Because the citizens' assembly recommended in favour of a new electoral system, the provisions of the Electoral System Referendum Act did apply and a referendum occurred in Ontario in 2007 at the same time as the general election. The question for the referendum as established by cabinet was: “Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature?” The first answer: “The existing electoral system (first-past-the-post)”, or “The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens' Assembly (mixed member proportional)“.
Another key aspect of the legislative framework for the 2007 referendum was the public education component. The Election Act was amended to make the Chief Electoral Officer responsible for conducting a public education program to ensure that electors received clear and impartial information about the referendum process, the date of the referendum, the referendum question, and the content of the choices of the referendum. As a result of this mandate for public education, Elections Ontario administered an extensive campaign to communicate referendum information to electors across the province. Mediums that were used as part of this communication effort included broadcast, print, online, posters, direct mail, and a public call centre. There were also outreach initiatives targeted towards young electors, and referendum resource officers who delivered information on the referendum in each and every electoral district.
Elections Ontario conducted surveys to determine the level of awareness of the referendum in advance of their electoral event and afterwards as a means of assessing the needs of the public education program and its ultimate success. In June 2007 only 8% of electors identified themselves as aware of, or very or somewhat knowledgeable about, the referendum. After the referendum, surveys indicated that 83% of electors were aware of the referendum, and 76% of electors felt they were either very or somewhat knowledgeable about the referendum. Elections Ontario had set a goal of ensuring that 75% of electors would know about this and have an understanding of the referendum and its contents. Based on these results, Elections Ontario felt it met its goal.
Though ultimately quite successful, the public education component of the legislation did create some operational challenges for Elections Ontario. One key challenge was the time and demands it placed on the Chief Electoral Officer and deputy chief electoral officer.
The CEO and deputy CEO conducted more than 120 interviews about the referendum. While providing this type of public information was extremely important and valuable, it also required a significant time investment on the part of these two senior individuals, who also had extensive responsibilities related to the administration of the election at the same time.
Another significant challenge for Elections Ontario that was related to the public education component of the legislation was the issue of neutrality. Elections Ontario was charged with providing information on the referendum in a completely neutral manner, and Elections Ontario is, of course, an impartial organization. However, there were external pressures to promote one side over the other during the referendum. Elections Ontario presented information in a neutral and impartial manner in accordance with the legislation, but in doing so did receive some criticism from those who wanted us to in fact take sides.
More broadly speaking, administering a referendum at the same time as a general election created some operational challenges as well, because it meant preparing for an extremely large and demanding project in a very short timeframe. This created some capacity challenges for Elections Ontario, and the organization had to work extremely hard to overcome them and deliver the two events simultaneously and successfully.
By way of conclusion, I want to note that the legislative framework that allowed for the referendum in 2007 does have a sunset provision. Some aspects of the referendum legislation were repealed fairly soon after the 2007 event, and the remaining provisions of the Electoral System Referendum Act, 2007 are scheduled to be repealed on October 10, 2013.
I hope this brief presentation has provided you with an overview of the legislative framework that allowed for the 2007 referendum in Ontario as well as some insight into some of the operational impacts and challenges that the legislation had on Elections Ontario.
I'm happy to address any questions that the committee members might have on this presentation.
Thank you.