Chapter 4The House of Commons and Its Members

Chief Electoral Officer

The Chief Electoral Officer is an Officer of Parliament appointed by resolution of the House of Commons. As head of Elections Canada, an independent, non-partisan agency, the Chief Electoral Officer is primarily responsible for standing ready at all times to administer a vote.

The position of Chief Electoral Officer was created in 1920 with the adoption of the Dominion Elections Act.¹⁹⁰ The position was created largely to prevent political partisanship in the administration of elections (prior to 1920, election officials were appointed by the government of the day). The first incumbent of the position was specifically named in the Act: Oliver Mowat Biggar held the position of Chief Electoral Officer until 1927.¹⁹¹ In 1927, when Mr. Biggar announced his intention to vacate the office, the Act was amended to remove any reference to a specific office holder and to establish that the Chief Electoral Officer would be appointed by resolution of the House rather than by the government of the day.¹⁹² Since that time, the position has been independent of the government and political parties, with the incumbent reporting directly to the House of Commons. The Chief Electoral Officer communicates with the Governor in Council through a minister designated by the Governor in Council for that purpose.¹⁹³

There have been six incumbents of this office.¹⁹⁴ With the exception of Mr. Biggar, who was appointed by statute, all the incumbents have been chosen by way of a resolution of the House after consultations among the various parties in the House.¹⁹⁵ A motion setting out the appointment was moved by the Prime Minister in 1927 and 1949, after written notice appeared on the Order Paper.¹⁹⁶ A motion was moved by unanimous consent on behalf of the Prime Minister in 1966¹⁹⁷ and by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General in 1990.¹⁹⁸ In all four cases, the motion was debated only briefly and agreed to by all parties. In 2007, in accordance with new House rules, the name of the proposed appointee was referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for consideration. After the Committee reported back to the House favourably on the nomination, the Government House Leader moved that the appointment be ratified by the House the same day. The motion was adopted without debate or amendment.¹⁹⁹

The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed by resolution of the House of Commons to hold office during good behaviour for a non-renewable term of 10 years. However, he or she may resign or be removed for cause by the Governor General on address of the Senate and House of Commons.²⁰⁰

Responsibilities

The Chief Electoral Officer has the rank and power of a deputy head of a government department.²⁰¹ While the original focus of the job was the general direction and supervision of federal elections, today the Chief Electoral Officer also administers federal referendums²⁰² and the monitoring measures set out in the Act, provides support to commissions established to study the readjustment of electoral boundaries after each decennial census,²⁰³ examines and discloses their financial reports, and reimburses their expenses.²⁰⁴ The Chief Electoral Officer is also responsible for the registration of political entities and the establishment and maintenance of an automated register of Canadians who are qualified electors.²⁰⁵ In addition, the Chief Electoral Officer, after consulting with the registered political parties represented in the House of Commons, appoints the Broadcasting Arbitrator, who allocates paid and free broadcasting time for political parties during a general election and for referendum committees during a referendum.²⁰⁶ The Chief Electoral Officer may implement public education and information programs to make the electoral process better known to students at the primary and secondary levels. The Chief Electoral Officer is also empowered to undertake studies on alternative voting processes with the approval of the committees of the Senate and the House of Commons that normally consider electoral matters, and to devise and test electronic voting processes with the approval of the Senate and the House.²⁰⁷

The Chief Electoral Officer also chairs an advisory committee composed of two representatives of each registered political party. The purpose of the committee is to provide the Chief Electoral Officer with advice and recommendations on all matters relating to elections and political financing.²⁰⁸

Responsibilities at Time of a General Election or a By-election

The Chief Electoral Officer supervises and directs the conduct of general elections and by-elections.²⁰⁹ As soon as the election date is known, the Chief Electoral Officer issues a writ of election to each returning officer, who is responsible for conducting the election within the electoral district.²¹⁰ The Chief Electoral Officer directs each returning officer to hire staff and prepare for an election. The Chief Electoral Officer also provides each returning officer with a preliminary list of electors for each polling division in the electoral district and publishes the number of names appearing in the revised list of electors for each district in the Canada Gazette seven days before polling day.²¹¹

Following polling day, the returning officer writes the name of and information about the winning candidate on the back of the writ of election and returns it to the Chief Electoral Officer. The latter enters the result in a book kept for that purpose and gives notice of the name of the candidate elected in the Canada Gazette.²¹² Furthermore, the Chief Electoral Officer sends the Clerk of the House the certificates of election for Members as they become available and a final certified list of Members elected to the House of Commons. This list is tabled in the House at the beginning of a Parliament.²¹³

Within 90 days of the date set for the return of the writs, the Chief Electoral Officer prepares a narrative report to Parliament containing information on the conduct of the election.²¹⁴ The report is submitted to the Speaker of the House, who tables it in the House.²¹⁵ The Chief Electoral Officer prepares a similar report within 90 days of the end of the calendar year covering all by-elections held during the previous year.²¹⁶

The Chief Electoral Officer retains for at least one year all election documents and the returned writs. If an election has been contested, the documents are kept for one year following the resolution of the contestation.²¹⁷

After each general election, the Chief Electoral Officer also prepares and publishes a report of official voting results. This report contains, poll by poll, the number of votes cast for each candidate; the number of rejected ballots; the number of names on the final list of electors; the number of additions of names, corrections of information and deletions of names that were made on polling day; the conclusions of the auditor’s report; and any other relevant information. A similar report is prepared for a by-election within 90 days of the return of the writ.²¹⁸

As soon as possible after a general election, the Chief Electoral Officer must also prepare a report for transmittal to the Speaker recommending amendments to the Canada Elections Act that he or she believes are desirable.²¹⁹

Relationship with Members

The Chief Electoral Officer provides advice and assistance to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, which is responsible for reviewing and reporting on matters relating to the election of Members.²²⁰ The Chief Electoral Officer and his staff provide the Committee with technical assistance and, at the Committee’s request, suggest possible amendments to the Canada Elections Act,²²¹ the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act²²² and the Referendum Act. The Chief Electoral Officer also appears before the Committee at its invitation to discuss the main estimates of Elections Canada²²³ and the reports on general elections.²²⁴

190.: SC 1920, c 46, ss 18 and 19. Prior to 1920, the Dominion Elections Act, 1874, SC 1874, c 9, ss 64 to 67, assigned to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery some of the duties now carried out by the Chief Electoral Officer. The Clerk of the Crown in Chancery was always present at the Table of the House of Commons at the commencement of a new Parliament to hand to the Clerk of the House the roll or return book containing the list of Members elected. He issued writs for elections, submitted certificates to the House of the return of Members and performed other functions relating to elections. For further information on the role of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, see Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice, 4th ed., pp. 188–9.
191.: Dominion Elections Act, SC 1920, c 46, s 19.
192.: An Act to amend the Dominion Elections Act, RSC 1927, c 53, s 1. See also Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 13(1).
193.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 15(4). The designated minister is currently the Government House Leader.
194.: Oliver Mowat Biggar (1920–27), Jules Castonguay (1927–49), Nelson J. Castonguay (1949–66), Jean-Marc Hamel (1966–90), Jean-Pierre Kingsley (1990–2007), and Marc Mayrand (2007–16).
195.: Debates, April 12, 1927, pp. 2313–5; April 14, 1927, p. 2499; October 4, 1949, pp. 489–91; June 6, 1966, pp. 6049–51; February 16, 1990, pp. 8453–6; February 21, 2007, p. 7134.
196.: Journals, April 14, 1927, p. 560; October 4, 1949, p. 61.
197.: Journals, June 6, 1966, p. 615.
198.: Journals, February 16, 1990, p. 1234.
199.: Journals, February 9, 2007, p. 987; February 21, 2007, pp. 1042–3. The government motion was seconded by representatives of the three opposition parties (Debates, February 21, 2007, p. 7134). Pursuant to Standing Order 111.1, whenever the government intends to appoint an Officer of Parliament, the name of the proposed appointee is deemed referred to the appropriate committee, and the committee may consider the appointment if it so chooses. Not later than 30 days following the referral of the proposed appointee’s name to the committee, the government places a motion to ratify the appointment on the Notice Paper under Routine Proceedings, whether the committee has reported back to the House or not. In 2007, the ratification motion was placed on notice by the Government House Leader the same day that the nominee’s biographical notes were referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (Order Paper and Notice Paper, February 12, 2007, p. III). The nominee appeared before the Committee on February 20, 2007, to answer questions (Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings, February 20, 2007, Meeting No. 41).
200.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 13. Until 2014, the Act provided that the incumbent serve until the age of 65. Bill C-23, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to certain Acts, 2nd Sess, 41st Parl, 2014, imposed a term limit. In the event of the death, incapacity or negligence of the Chief Electoral Officer when Parliament is not sitting, a substitute must be appointed by the Chief Justice of Canada. The appointment is effective until 15 days after the beginning of the next session of Parliament (ss 14(1) and 14(2)).
201.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 15(1). The salary of the Chief Electoral Officer is equivalent to that of a judge of the Federal Court (s 15(2)).
202.: Referendum Act, supra note 140.
203.: Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, supra note 7.
204.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, Part 18.
205.: Ibid., ss 44(1) and 385(1). The Chief Electoral Officer also maintains a registry of political parties (s 394).
206.: Ibid., ss 332 and 333.
207.: Ibid., ss 17.1, 18 and 18.1.
208.: Ibid., s 21.1.
209.: Ibid., s 16.
210.: Ibid., ss 24(2) and 58. See also ss 112–5.
211.: Ibid., ss 93(1) and 105(2). The number of names appearing on the preliminary list of electors is also published in the Canada Gazette (s 93(3)).
212.: Ibid., s 317.
213.: See, for example, Journals, November 18, 2008, pp. 1–7; June 2, 2011, pp. 1–7; December 3, 2015, pp. 1–9.
214.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 534(1).
215.: Ibid., s 536. See, for example, Journals, February 3, 2009, p. 77; September 19, 2011, p. 224. The report is then referred permanently to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (Standing Orders 32(5) and 108(3)(a)(vi)).
216.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 534(2). See, for example, Journals, March 31, 2014, p. 758; March 31, 2015, p. 2313.
217.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 540(1).
218.: Ibid., s 533. These reports can be found on the Elections Canada website at http://www.elections.ca/.
219.: Canada Elections Act, supra note 1, s 535. See, for example, Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada following the 40th General Election entitled “Responding to Changing Needs”, tabled in the House by the Speaker on June 9, 2010 (Journals, p. 485). See also Fifteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, presented to the House on February 27, 2012 (Journals, p. 854), and the government response, tabled on June 20, 2012 (Journals, p. 1873).
220.: Standing Order 108(3)(a)(vi). See, for example, Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings, April 27, 2006, Meeting No. 3; September 13, 2007, Meeting No. 63.
221.: See, for example, Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, October 3, 1995, Issue No. 52, pp. 30–1; Minutes of Proceedings, November 15, 2007, Meeting No. 4; December 4, 2007, Meeting No. 9.
222.: See, for example, Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, June 7, 1994, Issue No. 15, pp. 5–6; Minutes of Proceedings, February 12, 2013, Meeting No. 59.
223.: See, for example, Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, April 25, 1995, Issue No. 50, pp. 4–5; Minutes of Proceedings, April 28, 1998, Meeting No. 22; May 5, 2005, Meeting No. 33; April 19, 2007, Meeting No. 46.
224.: See, for example, Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Minutes of Proceedings, November 20, 1997, Meeting No. 6; February 26, 1998, Meeting No. 14; October 26, 2004, Meeting No. 5; November 23, 2004, Meeting No. 10.

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