1989 Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Main Points

10.1 The Charter of Rights and Freedoms declares that:

"Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and be qualified for membership therein."

10.2 Federally, the Canada Elections Act gives effect to that right by organizing a major administrative part of the federal electoral machinery through the Chief Electoral Officer, a central player in our parliamentary democracy (paragraphs 10.9 to 10.12).

10.3 The efficiency and economy of the operations of Elections Canada are tied closely to the legislation that governs it. In recent years the Chief Electoral Officer has drawn Parliament's attention to problems besetting the Canada Elections Act and the electoral machinery. However, changes in our electoral legislation needed to deal with these problems and to maintain an electoral system of a quality respected throughout the world have not been made (10.15 to 10.26).

10.4 Over the years Elections Canada, under the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer, has sought to provide Canadians with an effective electoral service. However, the continuing effectiveness of that machinery is at risk. A number of factors are making it more difficult to guarantee an electoral service of the quality Canadians have grown accustomed to (10.15 to 10.26).

10.5 Some of the requirements for change arise from social changes in Canada such as the significant number of Canadians who travel or live abroad, the difficulty of enumerating an increasingly mobile and urban population, and the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (10.27).

10.6 The outdated legislation has also led to inefficient procedures and high cost in administering the electoral process (10.28 to 10.36).

10.7 Preoccupied with these problems, Elections Canada has also not given adequate attention to analysis, planning, financial management, and internal organizational matters. This has further impaired its efficiency and economy and is bound to have an impact on its effectiveness (10.55 to 10.103).

Introduction

10.8 The Charter of Rights and Freedoms declares that:

"Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and be qualified for membership therein."

10.9 Maintaining a well functioning electoral machinery is not inexpensive: the 1988 federal general election should probably cost about $100 million with another $20 million to be spent on the reimbursement of party and candidate expenses.

10.10 Elections Canada, under the Chief Electoral Officer, is responsible for administering the federal election process and machinery. It is a small organization -- slightly over 50 full-time public servants based in Ottawa. In 1988-89 its direct operating costs were $2.5 million, of which over 85 percent was for salaries.

10.11 In planning for and administering elections, the staff of Elections Canada dispense election supplies, training, administrative services and advice to election officials across Canada before, during, and after each election.

10.12 Much the larger part of the organized electoral machinery originates with the returning officer -- one officer for each of the 295 federal electoral districts. That machinery springs to life only when an election is called and involves over 200,000 election officials. As one Canadian political scientist put it, "The modern electoral system is a loose-limbed colossus which lies dormant most of the time."

Audit Scope

10.13 We looked at Elections Canada's major activities in support of the electoral machine. Our audit also covered the administrative features of the Canada Elections Act and their effect on the operations of Elections Canada.

10.14 We did not look at the role of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, which had recently come under the scrutiny of the Standing Committee on Elections, Privileges and Private Members' Business; electoral work undertaken by Elections Canada in support of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and election expenses of parties and candidates, which will be examined in subsequent audits; or the work by Elections Canada on behalf of the Northwest Territories, which appears to have reached an end since the Territories plans to appoint its own Chief Electoral Officer for its next territorial election.

The Electoral Process

A complex operation involving time, people and geography

10.15 Although the act of marking a ballot is a simple task for the voter, it is but one visible step in an electoral operation largely obscured from view, where many administrative tasks have to be co-ordinated to support the voting process (see photo).

(Photo not available)

10.16 Canadians turn out in large numbers for their federal general elections: for the past two elections about 75 percent of the electors listed. In 1988, some 17,600,000 persons were eligible to vote.

(Photo not available)

10.17 The minimum federal election period is 50 days and recent general elections have averaged near that. More than 200,000 election officials are involved, many of whom are nominated by official candidates and political parties. Approximately 600 tons of supplies are shipped from Ottawa to constituencies across the country.

Shared responsibility among Elections Canada, government, and political representatives

10.18 Although Elections Canada is the administrator of the electoral machinery, it is not the undisputed manager. Under the procedural provisions of the Canada Elections Act, responsibility for the management of the electoral machinery is shared among Elections Canada, the government, and the political parties represented in the House of Commons. Each must co-operate with the others to achieve the intent of a smoothly functioning electoral machine.

10.19 The government of the day is one of the managers because it is empowered by the Canada Elections Act to appoint new returning officers. In this appointment process Elections Canada has no influence and must rely on the government to appoint returning officers of adequate quality with whom it will work. The government also controls the number of full-time employees allocated to Elections Canada.

10.20 In the same way as the government appoints returning officers, the two parties or candidates that came first and second in the previous election are given the right to nominate urban enumerators. The returning officer must accept and train these nominees unless there are good reasons for not doing so.

10.21 Although this ensures that the principal political interests are represented in the process and provides some assurance that elections are fairly and impartially conducted, there are drawbacks. For example, candidates often give the returning officers their lists of nominees late and, most of the time, the number of names is fewer than needed. This complicates the task of the returning officers who, at the last moment, in the midst of election preparations, have to find people for the positions and train them if there is time. The Chief Electoral Officer has no control over these matters which nonetheless affect the efficiency of the electoral machinery.

Outdated legislation: a major problem

10.22 The success of the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Canada can be judged by their ability to satisfy the electoral requirements of the Canada Elections Act, namely: to meet all the specified activity deadlines throughout the election period, to hold an election on the appointed date, to promptly report the results, and to manage the associated human, financial and materiel resources appropriately. All this is to be done in compliance with the law, fairly and impartially and in conjunction with returning officers.

10.23 The present Canada Elections Act is a lengthy and disorganized composition which in many instances specifies administrative procedures to the smallest detail. The authorizing legislation for other agencies is often expressed in broader terms to allow the appointed agency heads an adequate level of administrative flexibility to meet their program objectives. The Canada Elections Act allows very little discretion.

10.24 Moreover, electoral procedures under the Act have not been amended in substance for many years and consequently do not reflect recent social and technical developments which bear on the electoral process and significantly affect its costs. The environment has evolved; the legislation controlling the electoral process has not.

10.25 Since 1980, the Chief Electoral Officer has drawn attention to the likely impacts on the electoral process if legislative action is not taken. His most recent statutory report spoke of a crisis in election administration. He has noted the rising number of complaints and has indicated that public distrust of the electoral machinery could result.

10.26 The Chief Electoral Officer, although given some discretionary power during an election, has little flexibility between elections to make administrative improvements to the electoral process. By way of comparison, some provinces do grant their Chief Electoral Officers a certain amount of flexibility.

10.27 Examples of demographic and social changes in Canada that have occurred and that have an impact on the legislation are the significant number of Canadians travelling or living abroad who wish to vote but cannot, and a mobile and urban population becoming increasingly difficult to enumerate. Other changes are associated with the effect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has had on the Canada Elections Act. Interested citizens such as judges, prison inmates, the handicapped, and supporters of freedom of expression have challenged the Act, sometimes successfully. Those successes have in turn called into question some of the assumptions underlying the Canada Elections Act.

10.28 The outdated legislation has also led to inefficient procedures and higher costs in administering the electoral process. One example is the ballot box. Metal ballot boxes, which appear to be required under the Act, cost $500,000 more to use at a federal election than cardboard boxes (see Example 1).

Example 1

Ballot Boxes: High Costs

10.29 The following illustrates one of the many difficulties Elections Canada faces in administering the present legislation with the inefficiencies it creates. It also shows the need for better financial management and control.

10.30 Cardboard ballot boxes are now being used by some provincial administrations. Granted, they are usable only once, but they require one-way shipping only, no maintenance and are easier than metal boxes to handle and move about between storage depots and polling stations.

10.31 The Canada Elections Act says that "each ballot box shall be made of some durable material...". Other parts of the Act specify that locks, keys, and metal seals should be used in relation to the box. Elections Canada had interpreted this to mean that it could use only metal ballot boxes.

10.32 In anticipation of proposed amendments to the legislation announced by the government in 1987, which would have permitted greater flexibility in this area, Elections Canada began to dispose of its metal ballot boxes and to purchase cardboard ones. However, the legislation was not amended. As a result, there was a shortage of metal boxes at the time of the November 1988 election and Elections Canada was required to use cardboard ballot boxes in Ontario and Quebec.

10.33 Elections Canada estimates that at each election a metal ballot box costs $10 to use compared with $2.50 for the cardboard ballot box (see photo). Some 40,700 cardboard ballot boxes were used, at a cost of $102,000. Although this technically violated Elections Canada's interpretation of the existing legislation, it resulted in savings of $305,000 based on the difference in cost between metal and cardboard boxes. Had cardboard boxes been used throughout the country, additional savings of $207,000 would have been realized.

(Photos not available)

10.34 Even so, Elections Canada did not pay due regard to economy in purchasing the cardboard ballot boxes:

• 60,000 of the boxes were purchased between October 1987 and September 1988 for $135,000, or $2.25 each. The contract was let without competitive bidding and there was no evidence that any detailed cost or needs analyses had been carried out. Two provinces using cardboard ballot boxes pay $0.88 and $1.75 for each of their boxes.
• One million paper seals were purchased for the cardboard ballot boxes, but only 688,000 seals were used. The purchase exceeded requirements by $22,000. Furthermore, because the seals have a shelf life of only three years, it is likely that the remainder will be unusable at the time of the next federal election.

10.35 Another example is the necessity to return to Ottawa a substantial portion of the 600 tons of material shipped out to service the election. Some of this material includes voting records returned to Ottawa for storage and security. The remainder of the material may include excess supplies and some used material that might be recycled. Moreover, the Act requires the return of much of this material by registered mail. One section of the Act alone calls for the return by registered mail of the following documents: the report of proceedings; polling station recapitulation sheets; poll statements; the unused supply of ballot paper; enumerators' record or index books; revision documents; returns from the various polling stations including poll books, unused ballot papers, ballot papers cast, spoiled ballot papers, rejected ballot papers, the official list of electors; and agent information.

10.36 Moreover, the election writ that carries the endorsement of the returning officer showing which candidate received the majority of votes, and was thus elected, must be returned by registered mail. It cannot be officially transmitted by other sure, faster means, such as FAX.

10.37 In June 1987 the government introduced Bill C-79 in the House of Commons, proposing amendments to the Canada Elections Act and related legislation. This Bill died on the Order Paper when the Thirty-third Parliament was dissolved. More recently, in the April 1989 Speech from the Throne the government announced that a commission of inquiry would be established to make recommendations for needed changes and reforms to the electoral laws. At the conclusion of this audit in June 1989, the commission had not yet been established.

Returning officers: appointment process flawed

10.38 The returning officers, who administer the Canada Elections Act in each of the current 295 electoral districts, are pivotal figures in an election.

10.39 Before the election, their preparation responsibilities include several tasks. They must undergo training when appointed or when the legislation changes. They plan the electoral administration of the district so that they can respond properly when the election writ arrives. This includes dividing their electoral districts so that polling stations are distributed fairly and provide easy access to the electorate. They receive, store and distribute large quantities of supplies sent from Ottawa.

10.40 When the election is called, returning officers must immediately find office space, arrange for administration, telephone service, staff training, elector enumeration; receive candidate papers; and institute financial and other management controls. They must also maintain contact with the representatives of the candidates and political parties involved. Finally, they must be ready to provide information to the general public and the media. All this has to be accomplished in as little as seven weeks, following specific daily goals required by the law. After the election they have to settle their accounts with Elections Canada and with their workers, and satisfy other important election requirements.

10.41 Returning officers for each electoral district are selected and appointed by the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the responsible minister (currently the President of the Privy Council). The officers are paid for their services according to a tariff of fees approved by order in council. There is no annual salary or other remuneration attached to the office. The average fee received by returning officers during the 1988 election was about $12,700.

10.42 Based on its electoral experience, Elections Canada has set out the responsibilities of returning officers, along with suggested guidelines for their selection. Contact between the Government and the Chief Electoral Officer on the selection of returning officers is rare, and this can lead to the appointment of individuals less qualified than required. This in turn affects the efficiency of the electoral operations. Elections Canada accumulates information on the performance of returning officers but has no performance measures in place by which they can be objectively evaluated. This information is not passed to the government.

10.43 When a returning officer dies, resigns, or is removed from the position for cause, the Government has sixty days in which to appoint a replacement to the office under the Canada Elections Act. There is no such time limit in place when a new electoral district is created as a result of redistribution. The creation of the new districts in effect terminates the previous returning officer appointments.

10.44 When the current electoral boundaries were proclaimed on 13 July 1987, 282 new ridings were created and therefore 282 vacancies were created for returning officers. Thirteen electoral districts remained unchanged.

10.45 One hundred and seven days elapsed before the first returning officers were appointed on 28 October 1987. Then only 54 of the required 282 appointments were made. The last four returning officers were appointed on 18 September 1988, about two weeks before the November genera election was called.

10.46 The delay in appointments made it difficult to plan for the training of inexperienced returning officers, amounting to 85 percent of appointments for the 1988 election. It also shortened the planning time available to the returning officers to prepare for their upcoming responsibilities.

Enumeration and revision: still a largely manual process

10.47 Reduced to basics, federal enumeration is a two-stage data gathering and processing exercise conducted during the election period. In the first stage urban enumerators visit homes, apartments, and other residences to obtain and record the names of those who are qualified to vote. Along with residential visits, rural enumerators may secure elector information from other available and convenient sources. The second stage sees the transfer of this information, mostly by hand, on to voters lists, enumeration notices and other election documents. The elector's name is transcribed manually at least 5 times on various documents before the vote is cast.

10.48 Revision is an amending process whereby electors who were missed during the enumeration stage may get their names added to the list of voters.

10.49 Enumeration and revision are formidable administrative tasks and highly labour-intensive, comprising the single largest cost component of an election. For the November 1988 election, total field costs in the constituencies were estimated at about $75 million. About half of that is estimated to be the cost of enumeration and revision -- up 15 percent in dollar terms from the previous general election in 1984.

10.50 The June 1986 White Paper on Election Law Reform reviewed the possibility of having a permanent voters list but rejected it as being too costly and less accurate than the present method of compiling voters lists.

10.51 Although the existing legislation does contribute to administrative inefficiencies in the process, there are opportunities for improvements in the present system, particularly in the use of technology. For example, Elections Canada could issue a standard data processing software package for use, where locally feasible, instead of simply describing system requirements as is done now. In the last general election, some returning officers lightened their workload by hiring data processing firms to prepare the list of electors and the enumeration notices for the second stage of the process. For instance, several Toronto area ridings combined to use a local data processing firm to carry out major election tasks. But in the majority of the ridings most of the work was still done manually.

10.52 Elections Canada has attempted to introduce computer technology in a number of areas. For instance, returning officers were provided with computer terminals for the duration of the 1988 general election and most correspondence between Elections Canada headquarters and the ridings was conducted through electronic mail.

10.53 However, we found that Elections Canada had not comprehensively examined the potential savings and gains in efficiency associated with using information technology nationwide in enumeration and revision. The benefits could be significant.

10.54 Elections Canada should continue to explore ways to introduce up to date technology in all aspects of the electoral process, and to encourage its use by returning officers.

Management's response: We will continue to explore ways of introducing new technology in areas of our operations where potential savings may be realized. Also, we will be looking into the feasibility of developing a standard data processing software package for the use of returning officers in preparing the preliminary lists of electors.

Elections Support

10.55 We reviewed two of the major support activities of Elections Canada -- the supply of election material and training. We also reviewed the important administrative functions of the organization including financial administration, contracting, and general planning and analysis. At the time of our audit, the Public Service Commission was also reviewing staffing procedures.

Planning and Organization

Planning in uncertainty leads to crisis management

10.56 Planning for elections is planning in uncertainty. In the parliamentary system, a general election can be called at any time, as can a by-election (which generally uses the same process as a general election). For this reason the electoral machinery has to be kept ready to start immediately. This tends to impose on any electoral organization a sense of impending emergency. With each election seen as a crisis, as something to be reacted to, the value of planning and analysis can sometimes be overlooked.

10.57 Since 1957 Canadians have elected six minority governments, during the course of twelve general elections. Moreover, since 1980 Elections Canada has twice been involved with the redistribution of electoral districts, an activity that routinely occurs once a decade. These levels of electoral uncertainty and activity have disrupted Elections Canada's planning.

10.58 It also becomes more difficult to plan when there is reason to believe that elections legislation may be amended, as was the case in 1988. Preparations for the November 1988 general election were inhibited by the expectation that Bill C-79 would amend the Canada Elections Act and rectify or lessen various problems. This did not happen. But, while waiting and trying to plan the election, Elections Canada struggled with the following scenario. If Bill C-79 were passed, the Act would change the nature of the instructions to returning officers, the training program, the forms and papers used in the election, etc. A major consideration was whether there would be enough time to make the administrative changes before the next election. Further, and depending on the date of the general election, it was uncertain what group of returning officers -- the old or the new -- would be in place which had to be taken into account for their training.

10.59 The uncertainty of 1987 and 1988 continues into the future. The 1991 decennial census is approaching quickly and will be followed, probably in 1992, by an adjustment of the electoral boundaries. A commission of inquiry is to be conducted. The life of the present Parliament expires in late 1993, at which time -- and more likely before -- a general election must be held. Conceivably, Elections Canada may find itself in the same position it was in before the November 1988 general election: again faced with training two sets of returning officers; planning two different sets of electoral districts; and converting two sets of laws into the necessary detailed instructions.

10.60 The effect of these uncertainties in a crisis atmosphere has been to focus Elections Canada's attention on meeting the requirements of the Canada Elections Act. Other considerations such as analysis, planning, and financial management matters, involving Elections Canada's internal administration, have received less attention.

Informal organization approach no longer adequate

10.61 Historically, Elections Canada has grown slowly in its size and its responsibilities. Originally a small unit concerned strictly with running the electoral machine, today it includes a financial group that pays the organization's expenses and supervises the reimbursement of millions of dollars of election expenses to candidates and political parties; a Broadcasting Arbitrator who is concerned with broadcasting provisions during the election period; a Commissioner of Canada Elections who deals with complaints; and Elections Canada which is responsible for the administrative process supporting changes to electoral boundaries.

10.62 Throughout the past 15 years, these new responsibilities have been calling for a greater emphasis on the management of the overall process, where running the electoral machinery is just one of the important elements. Neither the legislation nor the internal arrangements have been modified to permit the organization to meet this new managerial requirement.

10.63 Partly as a function of size, Elections Canada has worked until recently in a project management style where different parts of the organization contribute to the progress of individual projects. But it has not assigned responsibilities for projects or activities clearly enough. For example, no one is assigned conclusive budgetary and program responsibility for training returning officers, or for setting the tariff of fees. Indeed, until December 1988 the formal organization chart did not reflect the actual organizational relationships.

10.64 Little use is made of budgets, and financial reports are inadequate. File systems in some areas are not well developed. Documented reasons for taking one or another course of action are difficult to find as was the case with the Voter Inquiry Services (see Example 2). Financial control on the electoral side concentrates on the payment of accounts and election expenses.

Example 2

Voter Inquiry Services: Better Analysis and Planning Required

10.65 The following illustrates the effect that unclear legislation, contracting procedures and limited planning and analysis had on Elections Canada's provision of a voter inquiry service.

10.66 Taking into account the electoral boundary changes and the almost complete turnover of returning officers Elections Canada decided, for the 1988 general election, to establish a telephone answering service -- centralized and decentralized -- to dispense information to callers on voters' rights and on how these might be exercised. The organizing principle created a two level service to handle uncomplicated questions at the local level with more difficult ones to be referred to Elections Canada in Ottawa.

10.67 The provision of these services was based on the Chief Electoral Officer's conviction that citizens have a right to be informed about their constitutional right to vote and of the means by which they can access that right. Elections Canada has sought an amendment to the Canada Elections Act to give that conviction a legislative basis.

10.68 Elections Canada's telephone answering service began working on 26 August 1988. In Ottawa, a staff of approximately 10 was linked to all regions of Canada by a toll-free number and their work hours were adjusted to accommodate Canada's population living in six time zones. This unit was managed by the Communications Division of Elections Canada.

10.69 As a possible election drew nearer a sole-source contract for the decentralized service was signed on 23 September 1988. The contractor was Reference Canada, a unit within the Department of Supply and Services. Reference Canada provided the service through its offices and by affiliation with established telephone inquiry units providing similar services to provincial governments and other organizations.

10.70 We noted that documentation related to issues such as mandate, need (including assumptions) and costs was not well organized in explaining systematically the development of the service.

10.71 The contract with Reference Canada made satisfactory provision for quality control to be exercised over the information provided to those using the service. However, the amount paid per call to Reference Canada was based on figures it gave to Elections Canada. These were not challenged by examination. There are also significant differences in the costs for these two services from the viewpoint of the total calls handled.

Organization	Total Cost	Total Calls	Cost per call
Reference Canada	$ 349,700	73,900	$ 4.73
Elections Canada	$ 121,600	44,300	$ 2.74

Although the costs are not strictly comparable, the rate paid under the contract with Reference Canada was considerably higher than Elections Canada's in-house costs.

10.72 The Inquiry Service of Elections Canada collected information on complaints made by callers. At the time of our audit we noted Elections Canada had not undertaken detailed reviews of the logs to determine the nature and source of problems in the election that generated complaints, with a view to making changes for future elections.

10.73 The organization realizes its informal work arrangements are no longer serving it adequately and is taking steps to clarify its responsibilities.

10.74 Elections Canada should adopt a more formal approach in its work and place greater emphasis on planning, analysis and documentation in all aspects of its work.

Management's response: To the extent feasible, within the limitations of the uncertain environment and our limited human resources, we will take the necessary steps to foster better planning, analysis and documentation of our work at all levels of the organization.

Election Supply Management

Room for improvement

10.75 General elections require large amounts of election supplies -- about 600 tons -- which are assembled in Ottawa and then distributed across the country to the 295 returning officers (see photo). Much of the material that is shipped out is returned to Ottawa after the election, as required by the Canada Elections Act, for safekeeping, re-use, or disposal.

(Photo not available)

10.76 Elections Canada has a good system for estimating the quantities of supplies needed. Quantities of each item are determined with the aid of a computer system and are based on the number of people, candidates, and polling divisions in each electoral district. The amounts shipped are based on historical usage patterns and are updated from the most recent statistics. Between elections, supplies are replenished over a 32-month planning cycle. Factors such as lead times, the cost of acquiring and carrying materiel and the likelihood of an election being called are taken into account during this process.

10.77 While blank ballot paper is well protected, warehouse security in Ottawa is inadequate. One of the assumptions the Canada Elections Act appears to make is that election records can be better safeguarded in Ottawa. The assumption may be unjustified. The used ballots, voters lists, and other confidential material in the Elections Canada warehouse, for example, are easily accessible through unlocked doors. Visitors are not challenged by employees. At the time of the audit, some employees smoked in the warehouse in these combustible conditions, in an apparently smoke-free government building. This was brought to the attention of management and the practice has stopped.

10.78 Moreover, the principal warehouse, at 51,000 square feet with a 3,000 ton capacity, is larger than necessary for the approximately 1,000 tons that is accumulated before general elections.

10.79 For some time the Treasury Board Secretariat has recommended that Elections Canada consider privatizing the warehouse with a view to achieving economies. On 1 June 1989 Elections Canada contracted for an effectiveness and efficiency review of the warehouse operations. Another alternative would be to decentralize operations.

10.80 Materiel other than election supplies is inadequately estimated and controlled. Electoral maps are a good example. There are still large quantities of maps in storage, not being used, which date back to 1974. No assessments or cost analyses have been made of the value of the current inventory, the cost of storing it, or alternatives.

10.81 Elections Canada should improve its supply management system by:

• strengthening warehouse security procedures;
• examining more cost effective alternatives for the warehouse operation; and
• establishing better control of its miscellaneous supplies.

Management's response: The report on the effectiveness and efficiency review of the warehouse, when received, will provide this Office with the information necessary to decide on the future organization and function of this service. Also, within the context of the federal government security policy, we will be undertaking in the near future a complete threat and risk assessment of the premises we occupy, including the warehouse.

Training

Satisfactory systems and procedures

10.82 One of the most significant support activities of Elections Canada is training returning officers and, indirectly, other election officials across Canada. Returning officers have to be trained first. Then, during the election period, in two successive training periods of less than a week, returning officers must first train close to 100,000 enumerators and other election workers and then, subsequently, another approximately 100,000 workers made up of deputy returning officers and poll workers.

10.83 We reviewed the systems and procedures Elections Canada had in place to carry out its training activities for the 1988 election, prior to which it had been faced with issues having a significant impact on its training program.

10.84 First, delays in appointing returning officers meant that training had to be squeezed into a short period. This complicated planning, training, operations and the monitoring tasks of Elections Canada and may have led to increased inefficiencies in the constituencies. To complete the training on time Elections Canada had to incur additional problems and costs.

10.85 Second, it could not be anticipated whether new legislation arising from Bill C-79 would be forthcoming. Depending on timing, new legislation could have overridden earlier training and related preparations. Third, in the 1988 general election over 85 percent of the returning officers were inexperienced.

10.86 In spite of these difficulties, the systems and procedures for training returning officers and electoral staff were generally satisfactory. Senior management was involved throughout and improvements had been made in the quality and quantity of training and support materials since the previous election.

10.87 In less than a year Elections Canada trained about 320 persons for 295 returning officer positions. There were no significant procedural failures in the elections.

Financial Management and Control

Ongoing costs are generally well controlled

10.88 The ongoing costs of administering the Elections Canada organization ($2.5 million in 1988-89) require parliamentary approval and are subject to Treasury Board scrutiny.

10.89 Financial management and controls over these ongoing costs are generally satisfactory.

Election costs: limited controls and little analysis

10.90 The costs of running an election are statutory (an estimated $120 million for the November 1988 election) and do not require parliamentary approval. The costs are reported to Parliament through the Estimates, the Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, and the Public Accounts.

10.91 In our opinion, Elections Canada does not have sufficient information or systems in place to enable it to determine what an election should cost and whether expenditures are made with due regard for economy and efficiency.

10.92 Except for the reimbursement of candidate and party expenses (about $20 million for the 1988 election), financial management and controls over election costs are weak:

• Senior managers are not held accountable for financial resources.
• There is no systematic and periodic analysis and reporting of the major components of the election process, nor do the limited financial systems provide the information that would permit an in-depth analysis. As a result, managers are often not aware of the costs of these activities. For instance, training of returning officers and other electoral officials is an important step in the electoral process. Elections Canada staff informed us that they thought training costs for the 1988 election were less than $1 million; our analysis indicated that the costs were about $4 million. In fairness, what the audit identified as training costs may not have coincided with the training costs as understood by Elections Canada staff.

10.93 Under the Act, returning officers have only to certify that expenses are valid to have them paid. Adequate analysis is not undertaken after the election, by riding, to compare expenditures of returning officers and to understand the reasons for variances, or to identify opportunities for savings. Nor have benchmarks, such as cost per elector, been established against which these costs can be monitored. Returning officers spend on average upwards of $250,000.

10.94 Little comparison of costs with other electoral jurisdictions is done. Although the processes are not identical, they are sufficiently similar to allow investigation and comparison, with useful insight to be gained into one's own practices. Based on information we obtained from seven provinces, the cost per voter in the last provincial election ranged from $2.31 to $8.00 compared to an estimated $6.85 for the 1988 federal election.

10.95 The tariff of fees that governs over 60 percent of the field expenditures is unwieldy in its complexity. The tariff structure, approved annually by order in council after review by the Department of Justice, sets the fees, costs, allowances and expenses to be paid to returning officers and other officials specified by the Act. The tariff of fees details the majority of tasks in the electoral process, from the hiring of messengers to the printing of ballot paper.

10.96 The updating of the tariff by Elections Canada staff has focussed on increasing fees and allowances to reflect the consumer price index. Insufficient emphasis has been placed on whether the various individual tariffs reflect current needs or reasonable costs. For instance, data processing costs for preparing electorallists became a permissible item in the tariff of fees for the first time in the last general election. However, no analysis was done of what a reasonable amount should be. The fee permitted was identical to that for processing the lists manually.

10.97 The lack of adequate financial management and control over election costs is due in part to the informal nature of the organization, and the emphasis it places on quality of service and the delivery of an election result. In addition, during and immediately after the election most of the organization's financial efforts have been directed to the control and review of candidate and party expenditures, with the result that inadequate emphasis has been placed on monitoring other significant areas of election costs. It is incumbent on the organization to have in place the best possible analysis and financial management and control systems.

10.98 Elections Canada should strengthen its financial management and control systems for planning, recording, controlling and reporting on the costs of running elections.

Management's response: In the near future we will begin to develop a new code of accounts which will serve as the basis for the development of a new comprehensive management information system for election costs covering both headquarters and returning officers' offices. Better analysis of the cost of activities will also be given priority consideration.

Contracting: poor procedures and controls

10.99 Elections Canada contracts for a variety of goods and services such as election supplies, computer systems and consultants, artwork, and graphics. Although the Chief Electoral Officer is not subject to government contract regulations, the organization has resolved nevertheless to follow their spirit and intent.

10.100 Our examination has shown that frequently this is not happening. For instance, we found that:

• in a number of instances, a formal competitive bidding process is not followed. This may have resulted in higher costs than necessary as illustrated in Examples 1 and 2.
• not all contracts specify a total dollar value and/or dates during which the delivery of goods or the performance of services must occur.
• needs analyses, ordering instructions from program managers, and other substantiating information to support negotiation and finalizing of contracts are not usually available.
• no comprehensive list of contracts was available when we conducted our examination. We were unable to accurately confirm the extent of the commitments or the amounts spent, although we estimate them to be in the millions of dollars.

10.101 Elections Canada should improve its contracting procedures.

Management's response: We are in the process of updating our contract policy which will cover the shortcomings mentioned above. Also, we will develop a contract register to provide better control of our contractual commitments.

Internal audit: limited activity

10.102 Other than the intensive reviews of party and candidate expenses carried out under the direction of the Elections Canada financial group, there have been no recent financial audits of other activities in Elections Canada. Given the sensitivity of its activities and the high profile it receives, Elections Canada would be well advised to introduce an internal audit function. With the peaks and valleys in activity this audit function could, for example, be contracted out.

10.103 Elections Canada should introduce an internal audit function.

Management's response: We agree. Arrangements have been made with the Audit Services Bureau of DSS to develop an internal audit policy and a 5-year audit plan. Work is to commence in the Fall of 1989.

Reporting to Parliament

10.104 The Chief Electoral Officer reports at the beginning of each session to the Speaker of the House of Commons on the administration of his office, and is also required to suggest amendments to the Canada Elections Act that will improve its administration. Through Part III of the Estimates the Chief Electoral Officer also reports comprehensively on the expenditures of Elections Canada and its administration.

10.105 In general the information provided to Parliament on the activities of Elections Canada is adequate. We did note, however, that tax credits to donors, which are part of the cost of elections and which approximated $44 million from 1984 to 1987, are not reported to Parliament.

10.106 Elections Canada should undertake discussions with the Department of National Revenue - Taxation with a view to reporting the cost of election tax credits to Parliament.

Management's response: We agree. We will be contacting Revenue Canada-Taxation to determine the most appropriate method of publicly reporting the cost of tax credits.

Co-ordination With Other Electoral Offices

Potential for significant savings

10.107 There are many similarities in the election processes of various levels of government in Canada. For example, other jurisdictions must identify voters, prepare voters lists, use ballot boxes, arrange for polling stations, develop street indexes, provide for secrecy and security of the ballot, count and report the results. Each of these costly systems is supported separately by the same group of taxpayers within a given geographic area.

10.108 Given the commonality of electoral tasks, and given some of the technical innovations developing across all jurisdictions, there appears to be significant potential for sharing information on common systems and procedures in such areas as mapping, enumeration, computerization, warehousing, and the production of forms and ballot boxes. This could result in annual savings of tens of millions of dollars across all jurisdictions.

10.109 Elections Canada, in co-operation with its counterparts in other jurisdictions, should investigate the feasibility of developing common systems and procedures for the administration of elections in Canada.

Management's response: We agree. Elections Canada has been meeting with election officials from the 10 provinces and two territories on an annual basis for the past 15 years to explore areas of mutual interest and cooperation within the constraints of our respective legislation. Furthermore, at the July 1989 conference, all jurisdictions agreed to a proposal put forward by Elections Canada to organize a number of consultative committees on specific issues such as, fees paid to and terms of employment of returning officers and the development of computerized mapping systems.