Yes, you're correct. There is established in our legislation an election advisory committee that is represented by two members from each political party that has members in the House or has campaigned in 50% or more of the seats in the province. There is a legislative requirement to formally consult with this committee on certain things—for example, for recommendations for legislative change—but I also use the body as a forum to discuss other aspects of electoral administration and to share best practices.
During the summer prior to our election call, as part of our readiness activities, I facilitated a meeting of this committee with the provincial and deputy provincial health officers, specifically to talk about campaigning. As Dr. Boda mentioned, I don't have a mandate to oversee the campaign activities, but I felt it important to bring together the parties as well as the medical health experts to talk about the issues and the challenges and how typical campaign activities should be modified to meet the public health requirements. The parties then submitted to the medical health officer their safety plans for commentary.
We also took the information that we had discussed and disseminated it on a broader base to all of the smaller political parties in British Columbia so that everyone was up to speed on what the changes were.
To summarize, I found it very effective and very helpful in discussing the issues and making sure that the information was being shared.