Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's really too early to tell, but looking at it from the outside, I think there have been tremendous changes in the electoral process over the last few years, and these reforms are still taking place. It will require a fair bit of adjustment and probably new skills at Elections Canada to meet the expectations of Parliament in that regard.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Not yet.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This is not something I can—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It would be highly inappropriate for me to form an opinion based on a statement and some comments that may have been read in the newspaper. The first thing would be for me to familiarize myself with the file and figure out if it's my responsibility, within the apparatus, to be involved in that file, and to what level.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it would be one of them, yes. The first priority for Elections Canada is to be ready for an election. Part of that involves having a competent returning officer in place to help manage the process.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm generally aware of the changes in the legislation that provide for the Chief Electoral Officer to appoint returning officers based on merit. I'm not aware of the progress that Elections Canada has made so far. That's one of the top issues that I will have to look into, to see the level of readiness to implement the new provisions of the legislation, to look at some of the timelines on appointing returning officers, and also to look at what are the merit criteria that have been designed so far to select those returning officers.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. It's only a thought at this point, but I'm struck by the very heavy legislative agenda that touches upon Elections Canada. Having the task of implementing the various pieces of legislation as they come through Parliament will be an added pressure for Elections Canada. In addition to being ready, and introducing changes at the same time.....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it would be a merit-based appointment process, according to the criteria—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  What I understand from my reading of C-2 is that the legislation draws a great deal of inspiration from human resources reforms within the federal public service, which is based on defined merit criteria.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I will not commit myself to going there today. As I was saying, there have been significant reforms in the Public Service human resources staffing process in recent years, and I believe the measures in Bill C-2 are heavily based on those reforms. The Public Service staffing process is transparent and merit-based, relying on stringent assessment of the skills and qualifications of people who apply for positions.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think an international presence is an important element. It should not, certainly, come at the cost of other core activities of the organization, but I think it speaks well that Canada is seen as a model of democracy. I think it bodes well for Canada to be able to brand itself in other countries in assisting them to develop the democratic process for various countries in need.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm sorry I cannot give you a more specific answer to your question. I know that Bill C-31 provides for a random voter number. That is about all I know. I really have no idea about the context of this provision or the use that will be made of this number. This is something I will have to find out about as soon as I assume the position, in order to see how we will go about implementing all of this.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  To be quite honest, I have learned about some of the debates that have taken place in this committee, including appearances by Mr. Kingsley and the electoral commissioner. At one point, when I was reading the transcripts of your meeting, I noticed that there did seem to be some concern in this area.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I must admit, as I was saying earlier—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I am not aware of progress made with respect to the appointment of returning officers. I know that C-2, the Federal Accountability Act, changes the rules of the game regarding the appointment of returning officers. At present, I have no idea of when exactly those provisions will come into force, and even less do I know the scope of preparations Elections Canada has made to put those provisions into place.