Evidence of meeting #81 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was election.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Craig Scott NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Monsieur Mayrand, I have a very quick question. I'm wondering whether a mechanism has been worked out with the newly located Commissioner of Canada Elections for involvement of his staff in some of the compliance problem-solving functions that you described when we were looking at Bill C-23.
One of the gaps in the government's understanding of what the commissioner does during elections is that a whole team of people helps respond to compliance issues. Will that happen in this election? If so, is it on Elections Canada's dime? Is it on the Department of Justice's dime? In any case, is that seamless transition from the previous state to this one going to happen?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
We've had discussions with the commissioner and also with the CRTC now with the recent changes, and I think all three organizations agree the process should be seamless to outside parties: electors, candidates, or campaigns.
Whoever gets an issue brought to their attention will assess whether it's something that falls under their jurisdiction. If not, it would be referred to the proper authority. We will all continue to be responsive, and we all know that during an election, time is of the essence, so we'll do real-time interventions to seek to address issues that may arise during the writ period.
Conservative
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to the presenters.
I do have a few lines of questions I'd like to have answered. One is related to the cost. You made reference to the cost of $375 million. That's for the 2015 election, and not just the election period, but the lead-up, getting the prep work, and all that kind of stuff. Am I correct in my understanding?
Liberal
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
It was $290 million or something like that, I believe.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Would that have been a consistent or a fair comparison? It's the overall cost for the...?
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
On the issue with regard to inquiries, do you have any sense, offhand, that you can share with committee members, of how many inquiries Elections Canada typically gets? I'm thinking more of the last couple of months. I've had correspondence dealing with questions about Elections Canada. How many would you typically be receiving?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I would have to get back to you on that one.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
What would be a guesstimate, Mr. Mayrand? Are we talking a dozen? Are we talking 1,200 or 5,000? Are the phones ringing all the time?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
They ring regularly, yes, but again, depending upon what's happening on the horizon. Now we're getting a few more questions because byelections have been called. There are things of that nature. Depending on what's happening, we may get peaks in terms of inquiries.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Sure. In any given election, you have all sorts of different levels of interest, from candidates to official agents to individuals just wanting to know how they can get on the voters list—
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
How do you feel about Elections Canada's response time? As a candidate, if I have a question—I'll use an example—such as “when can I put out a sign?”, how long can I anticipate that it would be before I get a written response for something of that nature?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
It depends on the question, but normally it would be within the day or the next day. It depends on how it's put, but if it's through the phone, yes. You can also ask through the Internet. You can put your inquiries through the web, but normally it would be within 24 hours. Again, during an election it would be much faster, if we can; it depends on what the question is.
I should point out that official agents and parties have special channels to access Elections Canada during an election period. There are also special channels among the lawyers for parties and lawyers at Elections Canada. There are different channels that are communicated to candidates and their agents and to Canadians as we get into the electoral period.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
In terms of the pre-writ period, the expectation for service, and responses to questions, if someone puts in a relatively straightforward question, you're relatively confident that definitely within a week they will get a response to it.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
They should, and if not, I'd like to be made aware of that. They should be—definitely.
