Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with the committee today about the 2026‑27 main estimates for my office and clarify some of our priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, which includes the office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections for financial purposes, is funded under two distinct authorities: an annual appropriation, which covers the salaries of indeterminate staff, and an ongoing statutory authority for all other expenses. This funding model ensures the independence of my office by ensuring access to the funds required to prepare for and deliver elections, which may occur at any time.
The annual appropriation for 2026‑27 amounts to $69 millions and represents the salaries for some 600 indeterminate positions. This is the amount voted on by Parliament.
Planned spending under the statutory authority is reported annually to Parliament for transparency and accountability. For the 2026‑27 fiscal year, the total planned spending is $205.2 million. Planned spending under the statutory authority covers all other expenses and includes work conducted in preparation of electoral events, but not the delivery cost of elections and by-elections, the timing of which cannot be predicted.
As we are under a minority government, Elections Canada's priority is ensuring readiness to deliver an election. This includes implementing measures identified based on lessons from the 45th general election, such as improvements to special ballot procedures and controls identified in a report that I shared with the committee last November.
We have also been engaging with organizations and communities in Nunavik to better serve electors. Notably, we are collaborating with the Kativik Regional Government and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which is commonly known by the acronym ITK—the national organization that represents Inuit in Canada—to remove barriers to electoral participation and improve the voting experience for Inuit electors. Additionally, we hired a new returning officer who is currently visiting all communities to ensure a better understanding of the reality and resources on the ground. Similar work is being done with indigenous communities across the country.
I would also like to thank the committee for the approval of Elections Canada's pilot project to include Inuktitut on federal election ballots in Nunavut. I am hopeful that I will be appearing later this spring before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to seek their approval.
This spring we will also finalize the audits of financial returns submitted by candidates, political parties and third parties for the last general election.
Our new risk-based audit approach, using data analytics, allows us to identify areas of risk in a more efficient manner and to better target our audits. Problematic files can be referred more quickly to the commissioner of Canada elections to ensure fairness and timely compliance outcomes.
As of today, 11 months after the 45th general election, I can confirm that we have almost completed the audits. This is much sooner than in the past, when it would normally take 24 months. I would also like to point out that in 2025, we received funding to increase capacity for the office of the commissioner of Canada elections and to make permanent core staff for our social media monitoring unit.
Finally, as we go through a series of minority governments, it is critical that Elections Canada not lose sight of the importance of renewing and modernizing its infrastructure, with the goal of reducing technological debt, replacing legacy systems and offering better services to Canadians. We are now completing the first phase of Elections Canada's digital strategy, which began in 2022-23, and initiating the second phase. The first phase included the relocation of Elections Canada's data centre and a simplified data architecture to better support our systems. That is complete. A new payroll system for election workers will be completed this year. We will continue the development of a secure online portal for political entities, as well as the use of electronic voter lists to expedite voting operations and reduce administrative errors at the polls.
As we look toward the second phase, we are beginning to plan a second wave of initiatives. This could include, for example, the development of electronic voter information cards, or VICs, in response to growing challenges with the timely delivery of paper VICs. Electronic VICs would serve as a complement to paper VICs, which would continue to be issued.
Thank you for inviting me today. I would be pleased to answer your questions.
