OTTAWA – Canada’s elections watchdog will be leaving his post at the end of this year.
Chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand says he wants to give his successor time to shape the future direction of Elections Canada before Canadians head back to the polls in 2019.
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Mayrand, who was first appointed in 2007, was one of the most strenuous critics of the previous Conservative government’s controversial Fair Elections Act.
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Amendments to the original bill allayed most of his fears, although Mayrand remained concerned the changes did not give the elections commissioner enough power to investigate suspected breaches of election law.
Mayrand was also in the job during the 2011 robocalls scandal, when voters reported misleading phone calls about where to vote, and the “in-and-out” affair, which saw ad money funnelled to local campaigns to dodge spending limits.
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Mayrand, whose last day will be Dec. 28, says he plans to finish recommending to Parliament the legislative changes necessary to modernize the electoral process, while safeguarding and even improving integrity and fairness.
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