Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Performance Report
For the period ending March 31, 2003

Jean-Pierre Kingsley
Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

The Honourable Don Boudria, P.C., M.P.
Minister of State and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Annexes

Elections Canada

I. The Chief Electoral Officer's Message

Jean-Pierre Kingsley Our Report on Plans and Priorities for 2002-2003 described the outcomes that we planned to achieve during the past year. This Performance Report to Parliament and Canadians discusses key achievements in reaching those outcomes, and in responding to new developments during 2002-2003.

All of Elections Canada's work is directed to three strategic outcomes that provide long term, enduring benefits to Canadians. Highlights from each area receive special attention in this report.

First, we are committed to delivering federal elections that maintain the integrity of the electoral process - providing an electoral system that is fair, transparent and accessible to electors. During the nine by elections that we conducted this year, we made special efforts to reach out to electors whose participation rate has been historically lower than that of the electorate generally. We also undertook a pilot project to improve the effectiveness of the voter information card sent to all registered electors.

Second, we must always be ready to deliver electoral events whenever they may be called, and to improve their delivery. Voter registration is key to achieving this objective. Among this year's priorities, identified through our extensive evaluation of the November 2000 general election, we met our target of having 92% of all electors listed in the National Register of Electors, and we substantially exceeded our goal of having 77% of all electors listed at the correct address.

Finally, we are responsible for providing public education and information programs, and support on electoral matters to the public, parliamentarians, federal electoral boundaries commissions, our partners and other stakeholders. This year we continued our support for the 10 federal electoral boundaries commissions, one for each province, as they set new electoral-district boundaries to reflect population growth and shifts over the past decade. And in light of evidence that declining voter turnout is particularly concentrated among the youngest generations, we increased our voter education and outreach activities directed to youth.

These highlights - and other outcomes described in the report - demonstrate that the Canadian electoral system has evolved over the years into one that is modern, accessible, transparent, and efficient. I am personally committed to the continuing process of electoral reform that has earned Canada its reputation around the world as a model of electoral democracy.

It is a privilege for me to serve Parliament and the Canadian people, and to lead an energetic, multi-talented team dedicated to strengthening and upholding Canada's democratic process.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley
Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

II. The Context for Our Performance

Elections Canada is committed to providing three strategic outcomes for Canadians:

to deliver federal elections, by-elections and referendums that maintain the integrity of the electoral process
to achieve and maintain a state of readiness to deliver electoral events whenever they may be called and to improve their delivery, and
to provide public education and information programs, and support on electoral matters to the public, parliamentarians, federal electoral boundaries commissions, partners and other stakeholders

Canada's political system is grounded in participation. Taking part in the electoral system strengthens Canadians' connections with the democratic decision-making process and demonstrates concern for the future development of their country. Canada's Performance 2002, the annual government-wide report on performance, includes this participation as one indicator of the strength of Canadian communities. Elections Canada's work helps remove administrative barriers to participation, and make voting as accessible and convenient as possible.

Several external and internal factors can influence our performance in achieving our three outcomes, mainly because of Canada's system of government and our dispersed and diverse electorate.

Factors influencing our performance

Under our parliamentary system of representative democracy, the length of time between federal electoral events is not a set period (the Constitution Act, 1982 provides that the maximum time between general elections is five years, except in time of real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection). This means that the length of our business cycle varies. The uncertainty makes planning a challenge, since we must be ready at all times to deliver an electoral event, whether it be a by-election, general election or referendum. Consequently, we must continually monitor parliamentary and political events and trends, so that we can take into account contingencies that might affect our readiness and preparations for electoral events.

The sheer size of the country, and our responsibility to provide more than 20 million registered electors with timely information and an opportunity to vote conveniently, can dramatically affect the size of the agency from time to time. Our staff may grow from 300 to more than 900 people as an electoral event approaches. Returning officers hire an additional 160,000 temporary workers to support the electoral process in over 17,000 polling places across the country, and we must plan to provide all of these people with efficient and timely training, supervision, supplies and administrative support. To respond effectively, our team must be multi-skilled and multi-talented.

Returning officers are appointed by the Governor in Council (effectively the federal government), not by the Chief Electoral Officer, and bear the responsibility for recruiting enough temporary workers to conduct an event in their electoral districts. Nevertheless, we are accountable for the overall performance of returning officers, and we address the challenge arising from this responsibility by providing them with appropriate training and support. Lack of experience among newly appointed returning officers, especially returning officers appointed just before an event, poses risks, the origins of which are beyond our control, but which we try to reduce through concentrated training programs that allow for variations in experience.

The increased number of electoral districts resulting from redistribution will have a significant effect on our computer systems, documentation and training. Other factors that can influence our performance include high mobility rates (more than 40% of all Canadians change their addresses every five years), increased social diversity, and judicial decisions and legislative amendments that change the administration of the Canada Elections Act.

Strategic relationships

The co-operation of many partners is important to achieving our strategic outcomes successfully. The scale of a partnership agreement can vary from year to year, depending on whether it is a year in which a general election is conducted, or a year (such as this one) in which one or more by-elections are held. In our discussion of each strategic outcome in section III, we identify our specific relationships with federal departments and agencies, provincial and territorial governments and agencies, and community partners.

Measuring our performance

We measure our performance mainly through post-election evaluations. Following the 2000 general election, we undertook extensive evaluations of every facet of our work, including external surveys of electors, candidates, registered political parties, registered third parties, returning officers and their staff, academics specializing in electoral matters, youth, Aboriginal peoples, and representatives of special needs and ethnocultural associations. After a by-election, we evaluate our performance in the same way, but on a more limited scale.

Discussions of several areas of possible improvement appear in the Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 37th General Election Held on November 27, 2000 (March 2001), in Modernizing the Electoral Process: Recommendations from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada following the 37th general election (November 2001), in our Performance Reports for 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, and in our 2000 General Election Post-event Overview (November 2001).

This is the third year in which we attempt to measure our performance so comprehensively, particularly with our external clients and stakeholders. As a result, the performance information in this report may be difficult to compare with that in reports before 2000-2001, where the information came from mainly internal evaluations. Much remains to be accomplished with performance measurement. Nevertheless, our new approach will permit benchmarking and further improvements for future electoral events.

Detailed performance measurement methodologies

Although surveys and post-election evaluations are our main performance measurement tools, we also use a variety of other methodologies for reporting results to senior management and the public, including benchmarking, statistical analysis and publication for public scrutiny. By strategic outcome, we use the following methodologies:

1. Event delivery

fairness of electoral events: formal surveys of candidates and political parties after a general election and informal evaluations after a by-election
transparency of electoral events: making sure that we publish official voting results, candidates' financial returns, compliance agreements and prosecutions on our Web site
compliance and enforcement: manually tracking complaints and cases and ensuring they are satisfactorily resolved
participation in electoral events: after a general election, surveys of the electorate as a whole and of youth, Aboriginal electors, and associations of ethnocultural groups and of electors with special needs; after a by-election, surveys of the electorate
accessibility: tracking level access to polling sites against a 100% target; surveys of the electorate on specific accessibility measures

2. Event readiness and improvements

lists of electors: statistically estimating the proportion of all electors listed in the Register against a 92% target, and statistically estimating the proportion of electors listed in the Register at the correct address against a 77% target
voter information cards: tracking the number of cards returned as undeliverable
communication with electors: surveys of electors
National Geographic Database: statistically measuring the proportion of electors nationally who are assigned to a point on a map
improving effectiveness of electoral processes: survey of clients and costing of new processes

3. Public education, information and support

public education and information: surveys of electors
Web site use: automatically tracking visits
support to stakeholders: surveys of electoral boundaries commissions in
2003-2004

Priorities

Before the Report on Plans and Priorities for 2002-2003, our previous reports included a fairly high degree of detail about our planned activities. In accordance with the new reporting principles of the Treasury Board of Canada, that Report on Plans and Priorities - and consequently this Performance Report for 2002-2003 - focus more directly on benefits to Canadians. In all cases we report here on the planned activities and outcomes we outlined in our Report on Plans and Priorities for 2002-2003.

Our Report on Plans and Priorities established six priorities for 2002-2003: two more than in the previous year. Four concern event readiness and two involve public education, information and support. We discuss our progress on each in the following section on our strategic outcomes.

This symbol of a computer mouse indicates that more detailed information is available on our Web site www.elections.ca or in one of our printed publications.

For more information on our mandate, roles and responsibilities, see Office of the Chief Electoral Officer: 2002-2003 Estimates, Part III - Report on Plans and Priorities (click: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/20022003/rCEO___e.pdf). The report is also available in print form. For earlier Reports on Plans and Priorities and Performance Reports, click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=gen&document=index&dir=rep/est&lang=e&textonly=false.

The Chief Electoral Officer's March 2001 and November 2001 reports are available on our Web site, and are also available in print form (click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=gen&document=index&dir=rep/re2&lang=e&textonly=false). For the 2000 General Election Post-event Overview, click: http://www.elections.ca/loi/rec/overview_e.pdf.

III. Elections Canada's Strategic Outcomes

Government-wide initiatives and federal public service priorities

This year, we are starting to report on management issues and practices, in keeping with the Auditor General and Treasury Board's emphasis on improved reporting to Parliament and the public. During 2002-2003, we continued our work on four government-wide initiatives and public service priorities:

Government of Canada On-Line: This year, we completed a feasibility study of on-line voter registration through the Internet. Once implemented, electors will be able to use the Internet to confirm whether they are registered to vote and to download registration forms. Furthermore, our Voter Information Service initiative is in progress. One of its main objectives is to provide the public with answers to commonly asked questions. This will be done through the Elections Canada Web site, using a shared database with other project initiatives that involve Web-enabled call agent tools and new developments in telephony/voice response/text-to-speech.

In addition, we inaugurated a full-service Web module dedicated to redistribution. Through this module, we made the proposals and reports (including maps) and the disposition of objections reports from 10 independent federal electoral boundaries commissions available, as soon as they were released, to members of the House of Commons and the public. The Web module included a link enabling users to e-mail comments and objections to the commissions. We also introduced interactive maps that allowed visitors to the Web site to compare a riding's current boundaries with the new boundaries as they were proposed, reported on, and finalized. This tool was shared with the subcommittee of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs that was responsible for reviewing the proposals prepared by the electoral boundaries commissions.

The Elections Canada Web site is a major component of our public information activities; since its introduction in 1995, it has grown from 500 to 6,000 pages, and receives some 2,000 visits (not just hits) on an average day. All of Canada's 301 returning officers are now directly on-line with Elections Canada in Ottawa.

Modern comptrollership: To serve as the basis of our action plan, in 2002-2003 we commissioned a modern comptrollership capacity assessment. Using the capacity-check model of the Treasury Board Secretariat, the assessors found that Elections Canada demonstrates particular strengths in the areas of strategic leadership, shared ethics and values, clear accountability and integrated performance information. The results of the capacity assessment revealed that the agency compared favourably with or exceeded the performance of other departments and agencies.

Reinforcing our commitment to official languages: Senior management at Elections Canada is committed to the Official Languages Program. We provided our Annual Review of Official Languages for 2002-2003 to the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Commissioner of Official Languages, and the Clerks of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages and the Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages. In The Texture of Canada (September 2002), the annual report of the Commissioner of Official Languages for 2001-2002, the steps we took to inform the federal electoral boundaries commissions of their official languages responsibilities were highlighted as a success story.

Increasing diversity: Elections Canada is committed to a representative and inclusive workplace. Because we have a relatively small workforce, approximately 40% of whom are term employees, representation of the four groups designated by the Employment Equity Act can vary substantially from month to month. Nevertheless, the following statistics give an indication of our compliance with that Act (the figures for the public service and labour force availability are the most recent available).

The diversity of Elections Canada's workforce

Designated group

Elections Canada,
2002-2003

Public Service of Canada,
2001-2002

Labour force availability,
2000-2001

Women

Aboriginal peoples

Persons with disabilities

Persons in a visible minority group

48%

4.4%

6.1%

5.4%

52.1%

3.6%

5.1%

6.1%

48.7%

1.7%

4.8%

8.7%

Sources: Treasury Board Secretariat, Employment Equity in the Federal Public Service, 2001-2002; Public Service Commission, 2001-2002 Annual Report

The 2002-2003 Annual Employment Equity Progress Report (March 2003) that we submitted to the Treasury Board Secretariat outlines our efforts. We also submitted our 2001-2002 Annual Multiculturalism Report (November 2002) to the Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) on our extensive public and internal activities that support the aims of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act.

For the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages, click: http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/archives/ar_ra/2001_02/2001_02-toc_tdm_e.htm, and for the Department of Canadian Heritage's Annual Report on the Operation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, click: http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/multi/reports/index_e.cfm.

1. Event delivery

To deliver federal elections, by-elections and referendums that maintain the integrity of the electoral process

Context and background

We conducted nine by-elections during the reporting period of April 1, 2002, to March 31, 2003:

Bonavista-Trinity-Conception, Newfoundland, on May 13, 2002
Calgary Southwest, Alberta, on May 13, 2002
Gander-Grand Falls, Newfoundland, on May 13, 2002
Saint Boniface, Manitoba, on May 13, 2002
Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel, Quebec, on May 13, 2002
Verdun-Saint-Henri-Saint-Paul-Pointe Saint-Charles, Quebec, on May 13, 2002
Windsor West, Ontario, on May 13, 2002
Berthier-Montcalm, Quebec, on December 9, 2002, and
Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay, Quebec, on December 9, 2002

One judicial decision affected both the May and December by-elections, and another decision affected only the December by-elections. On June 29, 2001, a decision by the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in Harper v. Canada (Attorney General) declared unconstitutional the provisions of the Canada Elections Act on third-party election advertising. (Third parties are groups or persons other than candidates, registered political parties or their riding associations.) On November 6, 2002, the Chief Electoral Officer announced that to achieve the fair application of the Act across the country, he and the Commissioner of Canada Elections would apply the Alberta court decision nationally for the two by-elections on December 9, 2002. This meant that there would be no limits on advertising expenses for third parties in the by-elections. He had previously made a similar announcement on March 27, 2002, for the seven by-elections of May 13. On December 16, 2002, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the lower court decision and also declared the provisions of the Act relating to the registration of third parties with Elections Canada to be unconstitutional. The Court of Appeal found as well that the prohibition against candidates, political parties and third parties transmitting election advertising on polling day is unconstitutional.*

* The Supreme Court of Canada has since agreed to hear the appeal of the decision of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench.

For the text of the Canada Elections Act, click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=loi&document=index&dir=leg/fel&lang=e&textonly=false. The text of the Act is also available in print. For the Alberta case, click http://www.albertacourts.ab.ca/jdb/1998-2003/qb/Civil/2001/2001abqb0558.pdf. For the Chief Electoral Officer's announcements, click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=med&document=mar2702a&dir=pre&lang=e&textonly=false (March 27) and http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=med&document=nov0602d&dir=pre&lang=e&textonly=false (November 6).

On October 31, 2002, a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer) held that the former s. 51(e) - now s. 4(c) - of the Canada Elections Act that prevents inmates who are serving sentences of two or more years from voting is in breach of s. 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and cannot be justified under s. 1 of the Charter. On the same day, the Chief Electoral Officer announced that, since s. 4(c) of the Canada Elections Act had been struck down, all incarcerated electors could now vote in federal elections, by-elections and referendums regardless of the length of the terms they were serving. This meant that all electors who were incarcerated were allowed to vote in the two December 2002 by-elections if their address of ordinary residence was within one of the electoral districts in which a by-election was being held.

For the text of the Supreme Court's judgment, click: http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/; under Search in all judgments, enter: sauvé. click: OK. choose Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer). For the Chief Electoral Officer's announcement, click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=med&document=oct3102&dir=pre&lang=e&textonly=false.

During 2002-2003, the delivery of nine by-elections was assisted by four federal departments or agencies: the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, which helped Canadian electors in other countries; the Department of National Defence, which aided Canadian Forces electors; the Correctional Service of Canada, which assisted incarcerated electors, and Canada Post Corporation, which delivered election information. Several community organizations co-operated with us in distributing information about the electoral process during the by-elections, including ethnocultural associations, Friendship Centres, disability organizations, and the Elizabeth Fry and John Howard Societies.

Resources used
Financial information ($ thousands)	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actuals
	$1,482	$5,675	$5,588

Planned spending: the amount we planned to spend at the beginning of the fiscal year
Total authorities: the additional spending required to reflect changing priorities and unforeseen events
Actuals: the amount actually spent

Outcomes achieved

1. Event delivery: Summary of performance against plans

2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities commitments	2002-2003 performance
The Commissioner of Canada Elections will continue to investigate and rule on complaints about contraventions of the Canada Elections Act related to the general election held in 2000	Achieved
Elections Canada will continue to update information on the Web site related to the 37th general election	Achieved

We measure our performance in delivering electoral events by the extent to which we provide:

electoral events that are fair and transparent within the context of, and in accordance with, constitutional and legal requirements
effective compliance and enforcement programs
electoral events that remove barriers to participation and facilitate access to the electoral process, and
timely disclosure of comprehensive electoral information

Fairness and transparency

To ensure fairness during the by-elections, each returning officer distributed documentation prepared by Elections Canada to candidates and their official agents and auditors. Each returning officer also held discussions with the various representatives of the political parties - including candidates and campaign chairs - to make sure that everyone received the same information. The meetings involved explanations of the various methods by which electors can vote, the rules to follow on election day, and the election officer positions for which the candidates or registered political parties may recommend applicants. Informal evaluations after the by-elections indicated that the meetings were well received by the registered parties. A further element of fairness - the level playing field factor - is the spending limits set by the Canada Elections Act that we calculated and published for all candidates and registered political parties. To encourage compliance, we also presented seminars on the provisions of the Canada Elections Act to candidates, their official agents and auditors.

To help guarantee transparency, under the Canada Elections Act candidates are required to file an election expenses return within four months of election day. We examine the returns to make sure that candidates have complied with the Act, and to determine the amount of reimbursement owed to qualified candidates. We finished reviewing financial returns from the 38 candidates who ran for office in the seven May 13 by-elections, and we will review the returns from candidates in the two December 9 by-elections following the deadline for filing the returns in fiscal 2003-2004. Publishing the candidates' financial information supports the confidence of Canadians in the integrity of the electoral process.

Compliance and enforcement

To have confidence in the fairness and integrity of elections, Canadians also need to have confidence that everyone has complied with the Act. The Commissioner of Canada Elections is responsible for making sure that the Canada Elections Act is complied with and enforced. The Commissioner received 20 complaints as a result of the 2002 by-elections, of which 17 have been resolved and three are still being investigated. Although some offences occurred during the by-election periods, others can occur months after a by-election. The Commissioner may receive additional complaints following the deadline for submitting candidates' and third parties' financial returns, four months after election day.

The Commissioner received 964 complaints arising from the 2000 general election, of which 35 were still open as of March 31, 2003. Of the total complaints, 58 were resolved by the signing of a compliance agreement. The Commissioner consented to 28 prosecutions, four of which are still ongoing.

The Sentencing Digest of convictions for offences appears at http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=loi&document=index&dir=sen&lang=e&textonly=false. For summaries of compliance agreements, click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=loi&document=index&dir=agr&lang=e&textonly=false.

Participation and accessibility

We are concerned about the declining proportion of Canadians who cast their ballots in federal elections. Voter turnout for the 2000 general election - which we originally reported as 61.2% - was, in fact, 64% after we removed duplicates from the final lists of electors, but still the lowest turnout since the general election of 1896. Turnout tends to be lower in by-elections than in general elections, and this was the case for the nine 2002 by-elections. Turnout for the eight by-elections held in 1999 and 2000 ranged from 28.1% to 44.7%, and averaged 35.8%. In the nine by-elections held in 2002, turnout ranged from 22.9% to 43%, averaging 31.4%.

While a higher participation rate is not necessarily a direct outcome of our efforts alone, we have a clear responsibility for making sure that electors are aware of the voting process, and that there are no administrative barriers to the exercise of the franchise. In June 2002 and January 2003, we held post-election evaluation sessions with staff who worked in the electoral districts during the by-elections, to review all aspects of the by-elections so that we can make improvements for the future.

For the by-elections, we made special efforts to reach out to electors whose participation rates have been historically lower than that of the electorate generally - especially youth, Aboriginal electors and electors with special needs. We used census data to find out whether there were ethnocultural or Aboriginal communities within each electoral district whose numbers would warrant translating information into other languages. Although translation was not necessary in any of the nine electoral districts, we sent information kits to ethnocultural associations and Friendship Centres. We made essential information available on request to special needs organizations in alternative formats, including Braille, large print, and audio-cassette, but we received no requests for the material.

Accessibility can mean physical access. All of the 607 polling sites in the nine by-elections provided level access, compared to 99.5% of the sites in the 2000 general election. Over the years, legislative and administrative reforms have included extended voting hours, advance and mobile polls, voting by mail-in ballot under the Special Voting Rules, election-day registration, a toll-free telephone enquiry service, information on the Web, voter information cards, providing a ballot template for persons who are visually impaired, and visiting acute-care hospitals to offer special ballots - all of which applied to the 2002 by-elections. Canada is one of eleven countries whose work on making elections accessible to persons with disabilities is highlighted by the International Foundation for Election Systems.

The International Foundation for Election Systems' information on Canada appears at http://www.electionaccess.org/Bp/Canada.htm.

Information disclosure

The Canada Elections Act of 2000 changed the reporting requirements for by-elections. The Chief Electoral Officer is now required to consolidate his narrative report on all by-elections into a single report at the end of any year in which at least one by-election has been held. The first report was published in March 2003 as Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada Following the May 13, 2002 By-elections Held in Bonavista-Trinity-Conception, Calgary Southwest, Gander-Grand Falls, Saint Boniface, Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel, Verdun-Saint-Henri-Saint-Paul-Pointe Saint-Charles and Windsor West, and the December 9, 2002 By-elections Held in Berthier-Montcalm and Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay.

The report is available at http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=gen&document=index&dir=rep/re2&lang=e&textonly=false, and is also available in print.

During the year, we improved electoral transparency by publishing an extensive variety of official electoral information on our Web site, including financial information disclosed by candidates, political parties and third parties:

voting results: By-elections May 13, 2002: Official Voting Results: Bonavista-Trinity-Conception, Calgary Southwest, Gander-Grand Falls, Saint Boniface, Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel, Verdun-Saint-Henri-Saint-Paul-Pointe Saint-Charles, Windsor West (August 2002); By-elections December 9, 2002: Official Voting Results: Berthier-Montcalm and Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay (February 2003)
For the two reports, see http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=gen&document=index&dir=rep/re2&lang=e&textonly=false. They are also available in print.

election expenses: Contributions and Expenses (candidates, including the May 13, 2002, by-elections: searchable database); Third Party Election Advertising Report for the May 13, 2002, By-elections

candidates' and parties' financial returns: Disposition of Surplus Campaign Funds - 37th General Election (candidates); Unpaid Claims - 37th General Election (candidates); Political Parties' Fiscal Period Returns (to 2001: searchable database); Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Statements of Revenues and Expenses - 2002 Fiscal Period (political parties)
For detailed information on election expenses and financial returns, see http://www.elections.ca/intro.asp?section=fin&document=index&lang=e&textonly=false. For the third-party advertising return, click: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=pol&document=index&dir=tp2&lang=e&textonly=false.

2. Event readiness and improvements

To achieve and maintain a state of readiness to deliver electoral events whenever they may be called and to improve the delivery of electoral events

Context and background

To make sure that Elections Canada is always ready for an election, by-election or referendum, we constantly monitor our mission-critical functions and systems and report progress in improvements every two weeks to our executive committee, chaired by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Our election readiness in large part depends on the accuracy and completeness of the information in the National Register of Electors, because it is the source of the lists of electors for every electoral district. This year our election readiness benefited from electoral and geographic information from:

three federal departments or agencies: the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, for updating the National Register of Electors; and Statistics Canada, our partner in maintaining the joint National Geographic Database, which also provided census information and certified population counts for redistribution
provincial and territorial drivers' licence and vital statistics agencies, which provided information to update the National Register of Electors, and
provincial and territorial electoral agencies, which shared electoral data, geographic information and other electoral systems and products

Resources used
Financial information ($ thousands)	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actuals
	$45,922	$52,235	$51,942

Outcomes achieved

2. Event readiness and improvements: Summary of performance against plans

2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities commitments	2002-2003 performance
extend the coverage of the information in the Register with new data from the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Canada Post	Achieved
upgrade the quality of the Register's information	Achieved
update and check electoral list addresses through returning officers in each electoral district	Achieved
devise a better system for handling elector moves between electoral districts	Achieved
study the feasibility of developing a new computer application that will integrate existing systems for handling the information used to produce voter information cards	Achieved
develop print, radio, television and Internet advertising specifically for each of several target groups: youth, members of ethnocultural groups, Aboriginal electors, electors using special ballots and the general electorate. All advertising will be completed and ready to run in 2002-2003.	Partly achieved - in progress
study the possibility of developing public enquiries training tools and faster systems with much greater capacity - including a separate service for candidates and parties - in early 2002-2003	In progress
keep enough material in stock to deliver electoral events	Achieved
train newly appointed returning officers	Achieved
upgrade the skills and knowledge of experienced returning officers	Partly achieved
returning officers will review their polling site locations, polling division boundaries, mobile polls and advance polling districts	Achieved
returning officers will verify lists of electors to identify addresses that are listed in the wrong polling division or electoral district	Achieved
incorporate into the Register regular updates received from data suppliers	Achieved
compare the quality of elector data to established benchmarks	Achieved
produce updated lists of electors in October 2002 for members of Parliament and political parties	Achieved
undertake upgrades, improvements and maintenance activities for our information technology infrastructure	Achieved

We measure our overall performance in being ready for electoral events, and improving our delivery of them, by the extent to which we provide:

trained staff and election officers, and up-to-date electoral processes, systems, databases and materials that are ready for any electoral event, and
processes that are cost-effective and respond to the concerns of stakeholders

Our evaluations of the 2000 general election indicated that four areas should be priorities for our 2002-2003 event-readiness planning: the quality of the lists of electors and the voter information cards sent to all registered electors, communications with electors and responding to enquiries from the public.

We will measure the effectiveness of the first two priorities by comparing the information on revision and the lists from the 2000 general election evaluations with the results of revision and election-day registration at the next general election. In our 2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities we indicated that we would measure their effectiveness by comparing the 2000 election data with the results of tests to be held in March 2003, and that the performance results for the priorities will be available in the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

During the past year, we worked on the assumption that our readiness plans and projects for technological improvements would converge on March 31, 2003 - the date for major changes to systems that can be implemented in time for a subsequent election. We met our target.

Lists of electors

A comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date National Register of Electors is at the heart of our election readiness. Improving the coverage and currency of the lists of electors produced from the Register will result in fewer electors having to revise their information during an electoral event or to register on election day. The outcome will facilitate voting for Canadians and improve the efficiency of the electoral process.

In keeping with our commitment to accountability and transparency, we have published our two major reliability targets for the information in the Register. We aim at having 92% of all electors listed in the Register, and 77% of all electors listed at the correct addresses. Last year we incorrectly reported our target for electors listed at the correct addresses as 76%; this should have been 77%, based on our calculations involving the previous accuracy levels of lists of electors, the number of electors who died, the number who turned 18, the number who received Canadian citizenship, and elector mobility.

As of March 2003, we estimate that the proportion of all electors listed in the Register was 92% -- our targeted level. We estimate that the percentage of electors listed in the Register at the correct addresses is 83%, 6% higher than our corrected target.

In addition to our regular sources of electoral information from our provincial and territorial partners, during 2002-2003 we used data from Canada Post to improve our coverage of addresses, and incorporated a significant number of new electors in the Register with the help of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. A change to the wording of the consent box on the income tax return allowed electors to be added to the Register if they were Canadian citizens. Our statistical analysis indicated that non-citizens were improperly consenting to be added to the Register; after consultations with the Advisory Committee of Political Parties, we decided that citizenship would have to be confirmed. To date, citizenship has been confirmed for some 830,000 electors, who have been added. Of these, 400,000 are youth. We are continuing citizenship confirmation by using provincial lists of electors, followed by mail-outs to these potential electors.

We completed a new version of the REVISE field registration and list production system. The system improves the accuracy of lists of electors and reduces duplicate records by allowing returning officers to transfer electronically the information of electors who move between electoral districts. In the 2000 general election this could only be done within the same electoral district.

During the year, returning officers reviewed and revised the address and geographical components of the lists and incorporated the results into the Register, updating address information for 2.2 million electors. We consulted with the Advisory Committee of Political Parties about this project.

To improve the future reliability of the information in the Register even further, we completed a feasibility study of on-line registration through the Internet. Once we can resolve the technical, legal and security challenges, we will gradually introduce on-line registration.

Some 84% of tax filers in 2002 gave consent for the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency to provide their names, addresses and dates of birth to Elections Canada for the Register, the same as in 2000 and 2001. On October 15, 2002, we provided the annual updated lists of electors to members of the House of Commons and political parties, as required under the Canada Elections Act.

For more information on the Register of Electors, see http://www.elections.ca/intro.asp?section=ins&document=index&lang=e&textonly=false.

Voter information cards

Our surveys and post-mortem analysis of the 2000 general election indicated that improving the voter information card should be a priority. The card was sent to all registered electors, and our surveys showed that it was the principal source of information about voting procedures for recipients. But they also showed that only between 79% and 83% of electors received a card correctly addressed to them; the rate was even lower for Aboriginal electors (68%) and youth (64%).

To see whether we could increase the effectiveness of the voter information card, in the December by-elections we undertook a pilot project involving a modified card and a new reminder card. To provide a basis for comparison, in Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay we sent out information to electors in the same way as in the past: a householder (a pamphlet distributed to each residence), followed by the modified voter information card. In Berthier-Montcalm, however, we first sent out the modified voter information card, following it a week later with a new reminder card. The card reminds the elector to act without delay if he or she has not received a voter information card in his or her name.

Feedback from the returning officer for Berthier-Montcalm, and the results of telephone surveys conducted during the by-election, indicate that the reminder card performed very well in its clarity, language and timeliness. We measured the extent to which electors remembered the reminder card or the householder, the action they took, and whether they felt it was important to keep the document. Then we compared the Berthier-Montcalm results to the results of surveys conducted in Lac-Saint-Jean-Saguenay, where we used the householder. Overall, the reminder card outperformed the householder, and almost all respondents reported no errors on their voter information cards. In 2003-2004 we will decide on what combination we should use in future electoral events, to make sure that we reach as many potential electors as possible.

The proportion of voter information cards that are returned as undeliverable is one measure of the accuracy of the lists used to produce them. For all nine by-elections, only 2% of cards were returned. In March 2003, we introduced a new computer application for returning offices that will integrate our systems for handling the information used to produce the cards.

Communication with electors

To measure the effectiveness of our advertising during the by-elections, we surveyed a representative sample of 1,512 adults in the two electoral districts involved in the December 9 by-elections. We conducted the telephone surveys both during and after the by-election period. The average awareness of the by-elections was 96%, higher than the 86% average in our surveys of earlier elections. In general, radio and newspapers were the most significant (40%) sources of awareness. A standard measure is the rate of recollection among those surveyed; newspaper advertisements had a slightly higher (40%) recall rate than radio advertisements (34%) - fairly high rates for a by-election.

In October 2002, we surveyed all returning officers on the effectiveness of the tools we used to communicate with electors during the 2000 general election; 120 out of 301 returning officers responded. On a scale of 1 (not satisfactory) to 10 (excellent), the respondents rated our products as follows:

Communications tool	Average rating
Voter information card Householder Voter information publications Daily newspaper ads Television ads Community newspaper ads Radio ads Web site Toll-free enquiries line Web e-mail system Internet banner ads	8.1 6.8 6.7 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.2 6.2 5.5 5.2

The relative effectiveness of each tool is broadly similar to the results of other surveys that we conducted earlier with our stakeholders.

Our efforts to improve the effectiveness of our communications - notably the voter information card and newspaper and radio advertisements during the by-elections - are reflected in this Performance Report. During the year, we finished testing the concepts and messages of all our advertising for print, radio, television, and the Internet, including advertising directed to youth, Aboriginal electors, and the general electorate. We continue to work on the advertising directed to members of ethnocultural groups and electors using special ballots.

Other event readiness projects

The National Geographic Database - maintained jointly with Statistics Canada - is a digital road map of Canada, with street names and address ranges, and is used for automated mapping, supporting redistribution and assigning electors to electoral districts and polling divisions to produce the voter information cards. In 2002-2003, we increased the proportion of electors who are geo-referenced - that is, assigned to a point on a map - to 82% from 77% last year.

Modern technology - such as the National Register and digitized mapping - is helping us to serve Canadians more effectively than in the past. Although electors may not be aware of improvements to our internal processes, Canadians may benefit indirectly from the increased efficiency in returning offices that results from extensive use of new information technology. Every process we automate, for example, means that returning office staff have more time for direct client service. During 2002-2003, we:

successfully tested HelpVision during the 2002 by-elections, a Web-based call-tracking software application that supports returning officers in serving Canadians during electoral events
improved the Returning Office Payment System by adding direct-deposit payments for polling day workers, reducing the time for payment from six weeks to less than one week following polling day, and
developed a new version of SITES, a national inventory of potential polling sites for returning officers

Training and supporting returning officers is vital to our election readiness. In
2002-2003, we:

instituted a new and intensive eight-day training program, including sessions in a full-scale model returning office
gave new returning officers an opportunity for four-day on-site visits during the
2002 by-elections to observe returning offices in operation
set up a sponsorship support program for 20 new returning officers, with the co-operation of experienced returning officers who have time to share their experience with newer colleagues
asked each returning officer to consult the member of Parliament for his or her electoral district, and local representatives of political parties, to give the political parties and MPs a forum for discussing issues specific to the electoral district, and for resolving any administrative issues
involved 285 returning officers in improving and maintaining the quality of our databases (16 returning officers had not yet been appointed by the Governor in Council). They reviewed their polling division boundaries and the geographic aspects of their lists of electors, and updated the polling sites databases for their electoral districts. Based on their work, we modified approximately 20% of the 55,000 polling divisions across the country to reflect current elector counts, we updated the national inventory of all potential locations for voting, and were able to geocode (geographically pinpoint) 660,000 additional electors across Canada, following investigation at the local level; this will help enhance the precision of the geographic information by ensuring registered electors are linked to the correct polling divisions and convenient polling sites, and therefore provide a better overall service to the elector.

We continued our partnership agreements for sharing electoral data with provincial and territorial electoral agencies. The information can only be used for electoral purposes, such as developing electoral registers, maintaining permanent lists of electors, and creating electoral lists for specific elections or referendums. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia have used or will be using the Register for their next elections. As part of our agreement with Elections Ontario to maintain a shared list of electors for Ontario, we jointly completed a targeted registration project across the province in March 2003. Both the National Register and Elections Ontario's Register have been updated as a result, and the Ontario Municipal Property Assessment Corporation has also used this information to prepare for Ontario's municipal elections in November 2003. This partnership will bring improved list quality and cost savings for all involved.

All our election material - updated, prepared and warehoused between events - was ready and delivered on time for the nine by-elections and is ready for the next general election.

Public Enquiries Tools

Our 2003-2004 Report on Plans and Priorities includes plans for continued attention to an unfulfilled 2002-2003 commitment. We have moved forward with our study aimed at developing public enquiries training tools and faster systems with much greater capacity, and at introducing a separate service for candidates and parties. Elections Canada has partnered with the Canada Enquiry Centre. We have introduced interim system improvements, coupled with new training material, to prepare and supply our new partner to handle call-centre services for us. On the question of candidates and parties, Elections Canada introduced a telephone Candidates and Parties Support Line on August 1, 2003. In addition, we are moving forward with the Voter Information Services project, which, among other things, will provide Web-based systems and databases to replace the above-mentioned interim system improvements. This project is progressing rapidly and we expect the new system to be in place for the next general election.

3. Public education, information and support on electoral matters

To provide timely and high-quality public education and information programs, and assurance that support on electoral matters is available to the public, parliamentarians, federal electoral boundaries commissions, partners and other stakeholders

Context and background

Our education and information programs concentrate on making the electoral system and processes more easily understood by the general public, and on reaching out to electors whose participation rates in voting have been historically lower than that of the electorate generally.

For our public education, information and support activities, Natural Resources Canada's mapping specialists assisted us by verifying boundary descriptions for redistribution.

Resources used
Financial information ($ thousands)	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actuals
	$12,313	$16,121	$16,056

Outcomes achieved

3. Public education, information and support: Summary of performance against plans

2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities commitments	2002-2003 performance
provide professional, technical, financial and administrative support to the 10 independent electoral boundaries commissions	Achieved
participate in various teachers' conferences	Achieved
upgrade our Web site to provide up-to-date electoral information that will improve accessibility	Achieved
continue our youth-oriented campaigns	Achieved

We measure our performance in offering public education and information programs and support on electoral matters by the extent to which we provide:

electoral processes that are better known to the public, particularly those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights, and
stakeholders' access to timely and high-quality information, advice, products and support in accordance with established standards

In our Report on Plans and Priorities for 2002-2003 we established two priorities concerning this strategic outcome: public education and administering the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.

Public education and information

Our public education priority helps to increase the public's awareness of Canada's democratic heritage and of the electoral process. As part of our continuing activities, we upgraded our Web site with new technologies and content, particularly the modules for electoral events, election-night results and the news media. Our site now receives some 2,000 visits - not just hits - on an average day.

To measure the effectiveness of our Web site, following the December 9 by-elections, we included questions in our survey of a representative sample of 1,512 adults in the two electoral districts. The average awareness of our site was 42%, although of those who were aware of it, few visited the site during the by-election period. The visitors were all voters or those who intended to vote, and their feedback on the site's layout and content was positive.

One of the most troubling aspects of the recent decline in voter turnout is the degree to which it is concentrated among the youngest generations. A research study that we commissioned - Explaining the Turnout Decline in Canadian Federal Elections: A New Survey of Non-voters, by Jon H. Pammett and Lawrence LeDuc (March 2003) - indicated that only about one quarter of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds voted in the 2000 general election. Although the decline in turnout has many causes, some evidence suggests that Elections Canada can help by increasing voter education activities directed to this age group. In 2002-2003 we began to develop an action plan and a series of projects to make young people aware of the importance of exercising their right to vote:

To counter a lack of information about the electoral process, we developed a joint project with Cable in the Classroom to encourage young people to become engaged in the electoral process. Cable in the Classroom is a consortium of Canadian cable companies that provides educational programming to schools across Canada.
We co-sponsored a Symposium on Electoral Participation in Canada with the Centre for Representation and Elections at Carleton University, Ottawa, on March 21, 2003. Discussions focused in particular on the decline in youth voting and measures to address this trend.
We are making sure that our mainstream election advertising campaign for the next general election is particularly sensitive to youth, as well as older electors, by consulting three distinct age groups: 16-19, 20-24 and 25-50-year-olds about the tone, language, messages and visual images.
To make registration easier for new electors, especially youth, the modified consent box on the income tax form allowed us to identify over 800,000 youth who were not on the Register, and to date we have registered 400,000 of these young electors.
We worked in partnership with Elections Newfoundland and Labrador to develop a youth voter education program for high school students who are newly eligible to vote, or soon will be. As the first step to a province-wide program, during 2002-2003 two school districts ran a planning and development project focusing on the electoral process, what it means and how it actually works.

For the Youth section of our Web site, see http://www.elections.ca/youth/english/welcome.html. The study of turnout decline is available at http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=loi&document=index&dir=tur/tud&lang=e&textonly=false, and is also available in print. For the Chief Electoral Officer's keynote address at the Symposium on Electoral Participation, click http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=med&document=cre&dir=eve&lang=e&textonly=false.

In addition to the various reports and studies mentioned earlier in this report, we published three issues of Electoral Insight, focusing on the reform of election financing (May 2002), the readjustment of federal electoral boundaries (October 2002) and election legislation enforcement (March 2003); the 2002 editions of Compendium of Election Administration in Canada and Compendium of Election Administration in Canada: A Comparative Overview; and a research study by André Blais, Agnieszka Dobrzynska and Louis Massicotte, Why is Turnout Higher in Some Countries than in Others? (March 2003).

For a full list of our publications, see http://www.elections.ca/intro.asp?section=pub&document=index&lang=e&textonly=false.

During the year we participated in the Teachers Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy, in Ottawa in November 2002. Coordinated by the Library of Parliament, the national Teachers Institute is supported by the Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons.

Support to Parliament and boundaries commissions and other stakeholders

The Chief Electoral Officer and members of his staff appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, as well as the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, to address and answer questions on Bill C-24, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act and the Income Tax Act (political financing). This bill proposed the most notable changes to the regulation of political financing at the federal level since the provisions enacted in 1974 by the Election Expenses Act.

In addition, the Chief Electoral Officer appeared twice before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, to discuss our Report on Plans and Priorities for 2002-2003 and our Performance Report for 2001-2002, and once before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, Northern Development and Natural Resources, to discuss Elections Canada's past and present efforts to encourage voting by Aboriginal peoples and our intention to develop additional projects in consultation with Aboriginal communities. He also discussed the concept of "community of interest" in the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act at a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages. In his appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs he commented on Bill C-441, An Act to change the names of certain electoral districts. Elections Canada held four sessions with the Advisory Committee of Political Parties during 2002-2003.

In 2002-2003 we continued to provide professional, technical, financial and administrative support to the 10 independent electoral boundaries commissions while they establish new electoral-district boundaries. The boundaries will reflect population growth and shifts revealed by the 2001 Census. As a result of our support, the commissions have better information on which to base their decisions.

For the Federal Representation 2004 section of our Web site, see http://www.elections.ca/scripts/fedrep/main_e.htm.

International activities

Elections Canada plays an active role on the international scene. The number and range of requests for assistance and participation have increased in proportion to the rapid unfolding of democratic events in many countries. Our involvement takes a number of forms, both bilateral (between governments) and multilateral (through regional, international and multilateral intergovernmental agencies and non-governmental organizations that promote democratic development).

Our activities have ranged from observing and supervising elections to conducting pre-election evaluations; providing technical aid and advice, election documents and accessories; training election personnel; and distributing information on the Canadian electoral system to foreign delegations visiting the country. Some examples of these activities are cited below.

involvement in and commitment to apply the Bill of Electoral Rights for People with Disabilities on September 6, 2002, in Sigtuna, Sweden; the declaration defines the fundamental rights of electors with disabilities, including full access to polling stations and the right of people with a mental disability to vote without restriction
the 24th annual conference of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL), which Elections Canada hosted from September 29 to October 2, 2002, in Ottawa; this international meeting brought together representatives of government agencies responsible for administering legislation on election campaign financing, conflicts of interest, ethics, freedom of information and lobbying
the IV National Congress of State Courts and Tribunals of the United Mexican States and the IV International Congress on Electoral Law in Morelia in November 2002, at which the Chief Electoral Officer gave a speech
the conference in Vancouver in December 2002 of the second Inter-American Forum on Political Parties, which focused on political financing and was hosted by Elections Canada; as a result of this conference, further meetings were held in Panama and Costa Rica, with participation from representatives of Elections Canada
in February 2003, a representative of Elections Canada attended the Commonwealth Workshop on Political Participation, Voter Education and Young People at the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff, United Kingdom
in March 2003, the CEO attended the Fourth Meeting of the Council on Democratic Elections and the 54th Plenary Session of the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission)
during the year, Elections Canada officials met representatives from the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Lithuania, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Indonesia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan and Croatia
under the general leadership of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, Elections Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), is providing strategic oversight for the Elections and Registration in Afghanistan (ERA) Project to help Afghanistan prepare for general elections.

For more information about our international activities, click: http://www.elections.ca/intro.asp?section=int&document=index&lang=e&textonly=false.

Annexes

A. Financial performance

Financial performance overview

The following graph shows the cumulative costs avoided by using the National Register of Electors, comparing our original business case for the Register to the actual and projected results. The savings apply only to federal general elections, and do not include further savings realized by the municipal and provincial partners with whom we share data. Hypothetical dates for future general elections are given here merely to provide consistent points for data comparison. As the graph indicates, we recovered our initial investment at the 2000 general election, rather than the one after that.

Financial summary tables

Funding authorities

Elections Canada operates under two funding authorities: an annual appropriation (which essentially provides for the salaries of permanent full-time staff) and the statutory authority (which provides for all other expenditures, including the costs of electoral events and continuing public education programs). Because the authorities are interdependent, this report considers both together.

Table 1: Financial requirements by authority
($ thousands)

Vote	Authority	2002-2003
Vote	Authority	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actual
30	Program expenditures	12,226	12,973	12,528
(S)	Salary of the Chief Electoral Officer	205	210	210
(S)	Expenses of elections	44,841	55,674	55,674
(S)	Contributions to employee benefits plan	2,445	5,174	5,174
Total		59,717	74,031	73,586

(S) means that an item is authorized by statutory authority.

In Table 2 below:

numbers in italics are actual total authorities (Main and Supplementary Estimates and other authorities)
numbers in bold type are actual expenditures and revenues, and
operating includes contributions to employee benefits plan and the salary of the Chief Electoral Officer

Table 2: Agency planned vs. actual spending by funding authority, 2002-2003
($ thousands)

Funding authority	Full-time equiv-alent	Oper-ating	Capital	Voted grants and contri-butions	Subtotal: Gross voted expend-itures	Statutory payments	Total gross expend-itures	Less: Respend-able revenues	Total net expend-itures
Administration
Planned spending	210	14,876			14,876		14,876		14,876
Total authorities	210	18,357			18,357		18,357		18,357
Actuals	194	17,912			17,912		17,912		17,912
Elections and referendums
Planned spending	88					44,841	44,841		44,841
Total authorities	146					55,674	55,674		55,674
Actuals	146					55,674	55,674		55,674
Totals
Planned spending	298	14,876			14,876	44,841	59,717		59,717
Total authorities	356	18,357			18,357	55,674	74,031		74,031
Actuals	340	17,912			17,912	55,674	73,586		73,586
Other revenues and expenditures:
Non-respendable revenues									-
Planned									-
Total authorities									-
Actuals									-
Cost of services provided by other departments¹
Planned									3,553
Total authorities									3,553
Actuals									4,142
Net cost of the program
Planned									63,270
Total authorities									77,584
Actuals									77,728

¹ The cost of services provided by other departments is the total amount of authorities and actuals reported to us by those departments for the following items: the cost of accommodation by Public Works and Government Services Canada, employee benefits covering the employer's share of insurance premiums paid by the Treasury Board Secretariat and the employer's portion of workers' compensation payments paid by Human Resources Development Canada, and the cost of legal services provided by the Department of Justice Canada.

Table 3: Historical comparison of total planned spending to actual spending
($ thousands)

			2002-2003
Funding authority	Actual 2000-2001	Actual 2001-2002	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actual
Administration	5,703	14,304	14,876	18,357	17,912
Elections and referendums	197,148	35,252	44,841	55,674	55,674
Total	202,851	49,556	59,717	74,031	73,586

Table 4: Statutory payments by funding authority
($ thousands)

			2002-2003
Funding authority	Actual 2000-2001	Actual 2001-2002	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actual
Administration	953	2,629	2,650	5,384	5,384
Elections and referendums	197,148	35,252	44,841	55,674	55,674
Total statutory payments	198,101	37,881	47,491	61,058	61,058

In Table 5 below, transfer payments incorporate the following factors:

A candidate who is elected or receives at least 15% of the valid votes cast at an election is entitled to a reimbursement of 50% of the actual paid election expenses and paid personal expenses to a maximum of 50% of the election expenses limit.
A registered party is eligible for reimbursement if the party has obtained 2% or more of the total number of valid votes cast nationally, or 5% of the valid votes cast in those districts where the party sponsored candidates in an election. Following receipt of a registered party's election expenses return, the auditor's unqualified report and the declaration by the chief agent, the Chief Electoral Officer will prepare and issue a certificate requiring the Receiver General to reimburse that registered party in the amount of 22.5% of its paid election expenses as set out in the return.
The Act provides for a subsidy to be paid out of public funds directly to the candidate's auditor, upon confirmation of compliance with the relevant provisions of the Act. If the subsidy paid to the auditor by the Receiver General is less than the total fee charged by the auditor, the candidate is responsible to pay the excess. The subsidy cannot exceed 3% of the election expenses of the candidate to a maximum of $1,500, nor can the payment be less than $250.

Table 5: Transfer payments
($ thousands)

			2002-2003
Other transfer payments	Actual 2000-2001	Actual 2001-2002	Planned spending	Total authorities	Actual
Candidates	15,724	361	-	632	632
Political parties	7,765	(165)	-	-	(8)
Candidate's auditors	1,305	(134)	-	23	23
Total transfer payments	24,794	62	-	655	647

Table 6: Details of Travel Expenses for the Chief Electoral Officer

	2002-2003
International travel Travel within Canada	$31,584.77 $23,620.62
TOTAL	$55,205.39

B. Financial Statements

Management Responsibility For Financial Statements

Responsibility for the integrity and objectivity of the accompanying financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2003 and all information contained in this report rests with the management of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

These statements have been prepared by management in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles, using management's best estimates and judgements where appropriate. These statements should be read within the context of the significant accounting policies set out in the Notes.

Management has developed and maintains books, records, internal controls and management practices, designed to provide reasonable assurance that the Government's assets are safeguarded and controlled, resources are managed economically and efficiently in the attainment of corporate objectives, and that transactions are in accordance with the Financial Administration Act and regulations, the Canada Elections Act, the Referendum Act, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and the Constitution Acts. Management is also supported and assisted by a program of internal audit services.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley Chief Electoral Officer		Janice Vézina Senior Director, Election Financing and Corporate Services
Ottawa, Canada October 8, 2003

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Statement of Financial Position (Unaudited)

As at March 31
(thousands of dollars)

	2003	2002
ASSETS
Financial assets
Petty Cash	7	15
Due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund	11,758	4,928
Receivables from external parties (net of allowance) from other government departments	47 2,608	90 125
Total financial assets	14,420	5,158
Non-financial assets
Prepaid expenses	403	88
Inventories of supplies	6,743	5,792
Tangible capital assets (Note 4)	7,962	4,430
Total non-financial assets	15,108	10,310
TOTAL	29,528	15,468
LIABILITIES
Current liabilities
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities to external parties to other government departments	7,442 3,238	3,202 1,016
Accrued employee salaries and wages	590	243
Provision for vacation leave	854	593
Deposit and trust accounts from political candidates	16	138
Total current liabilities	12,140	5,192
Long-term liabilities
Capital Lease obligations (Note 5)	129	453
Employee severance benefits obligation (Note 6)	2,294	1,894
Total long-term liabilities	2,423	2,347
Total Liabilities	14,563	7,539
Net Assets Commitments and contingencies (Note 7)	14,965	7,929
TOTAL	29,528	15,468

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Statement of Operations and Net Assets (Unaudited)

For the year ended March 31
(thousands of dollars)

	2003	2002
OPERATING EXPENSES
Salaries and benefits Professional services Advertising, publishing and printing Rental of equipment and sites Travel and communication Amortization of capital assets Machinery and equipment Repair and maintenance of equipment Reimbursement of candidates' and parties' expenses Utilities, materials and supplies Employee severance benefits Interest on capital leases and overdue accounts Bad Debt Expense	$31,782 15,314 8,788 7,886 3,195 1,798 1,780 1,051 647 591 459 26 -	$20,508 11,849 4,765 6,984 1,195 1,611 1,359 1,302 62 573 996 93 158
Total Expenses	73,317	51,455
Forfeiture of candidates deposits	(140)	(21)
NET RESULTS OF OPERATIONS	(73,177)	(51,434)
Net Assets (Liabilities), beginning of year	7,929	(13,407)
Services provided without charge	4,142	3,226
Change in due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund	6,830	4,928
Net Cash Provided by Government	69,241	64,616
Net Assets, end of year	14,965	7,929

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Statement of Cash Flow (Unaudited)

For the year ended March 31
(thousands of dollars)

	2003	2002
OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net Results	73,177	51,434
Non-Cash items included in Net Results Amortization of capital assets Services provided without charge	(1,798) (4,142)	(1,611) (3,226)
Forfeiture of candidates deposits	138	4
Changes in current liabilities	(6,948)	15,186
Changes in capital lease obligation	(78)	-
Changes in employee severance benefits obligation	(400)	(752)
Changes in receivables, prepayments and inventories	3,698	(651)
Cash applied to operating activities	63,647	60,384
CAPITAL ACTIVITIES
Acquisition of Tangible Capital Assets	5,192	2,916
Capital lease obligation disbursement	402	1,316
Cash applied to capital activities	5,594	4,232
NET CASH PROVIDED BY GOVERNMENT	$69,241	$64,616

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Notes to Financial Statements (Unaudited)

For the year ended March 31, 2003

1. Authority and Objectives

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, commonly known as Elections Canada, is headed by the Chief Electoral Officer who is appointed by resolution of the House of Commons and reports directly to Parliament. The Chief Electoral Officer is completely independent of the federal government and political parties.

Elections Canada's objectives are to enable the Canadian electorate to elect members to the House of Commons in accordance with the Canada Elections Act; to ensure compliance with and enforcement of all provisions of the Canada Elections Act; to calculate the number of members of the House of Commons to be assigned to each province pursuant to the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution Acts; and to provide the necessary technical, administrative and financial support to the ten electoral boundaries commissions, one for each province, in accordance with the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Generally accepted accounting principles - These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Parliamentary appropriations - The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer operates under two funding authorities: an annual appropriation (which essentially provides for the salaries of certain indeterminate staff) and the statutory authority (which provides for all other expenditures, including the costs of electoral events). Appropriations provided to the Office do not parallel financial reporting according to generally accepted accounting principles. They are based in a large part on cash flow requirements. Consequently, items recognized in the statement of operations and the statement of financial position are not necessarily the same as those provided through appropriations from Parliament.

Note 3 to these financial statements provides information regarding the source and disposition of these authorities and provides a high-level reconciliation between the two bases of reporting. The Canada Elections Act contains the statutory authority necessary for the Chief Electoral Officer to incur expenditures for the preparation and conduct of electoral events and continuing public education programs.
Due from the consolidated revenue fund - The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer operates within the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). The CRF is administered by the Receiver General for Canada. All cash receipts are deposited to the CRF and all cash disbursements made by departments are paid from the CRF. Due from the CRF represents the amount of cash that Elections Canada is entitled to draw from the CRF, without further appropriations, in order to discharge its liabilities.
Services provided without charge - These services provided by other government departments are included as operating expenses, at their estimated cost, in the statement of operations. The following are the more significant types of services provided without charge: accommodation and banking services provided by Public Works and Government Services Canada; contributions covering employer's share of headquarters employees' insurance premiums paid by Treasury Board Secretariat; workmen's compensation coverage provided by Human Resources Development Canada.
Receivables - These are stated at amounts expected to be ultimately realized. A provision is made for receivables where recovery is considered uncertain.
Inventories of supplies - Consist of forms and publications used to administer the elections, and kits distributed to political candidates. These assets are recorded at weighted average cost. The cost of those supplies is charged to operations in the period in which the items are consumed.

Tangible capital assets - Tangible capital assets are recorded at cost less amortization. The capitalization of software and leasehold improvements has been done on a prospective basis from April 1, 2001. Amortization is calculated on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the capital assets as follows:

Asset Class	Useful Life
Motor vehicles - other	10
Motor vehicles - passenger	5
Furniture and fixtures	10
Machinery and equipment	10
Informatics hardware	3
Informatics software	3
Leasehold improvements	Term of lease
Work in progress	Once in use

Salaries and benefits, and vacation leave - Salaries and benefits and vacation leave are expensed as the salary or benefits accrue to employees under their respective terms of employment based on services rendered. The employee salaries and benefits liability is calculated based on the respective terms of employment using the employees' salary levels at year end, and the number of days remaining unpaid at the end of the fiscal period. The liability for vacation leave is calculated at the salary levels in effect at the end of the year for all unused vacation leave benefits accruing to employees.
Pension benefits - Eligible employees participate in the Public Service Superannuation Plan administered by the Government of Canada.

The Public Service Superannuation Plan requires that employers contribute on an equal basis as employees to the plan. The contributions represent the total pension obligations of Elections Canada and are recognized in the accounts in the period that the contributions are made. Elections' Canada contribution to the plan for 2002/2003 was $3.6 million ($1.6 million in 2001/2002) and is included in the Statement of Operations.
Employee severance benefits obligation - The liability for employee severance benefits is calculated using information derived from the results of the actuarially determined liability for employee severance benefits for the government as a whole. Employee severance benefits on cessation of employment represent obligations of Elections Canada that are normally funded by appropriation when the benefits are paid.
Measurement uncertainty - The preparation of financial statements in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and cost of operations during the reporting period.

At the time of preparation of these statements, management believes the estimates and assumptions to be reasonable. The most significant items where estimates are used is amortization of capital assets, severance and pension benefits and services provided without charge. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

3. Parliamentary Appropriations

a) Reconciliation to net cost of operations

(thousands of dollars)	2003	2002
Net results	73,177	51,434
Items not charged to appropriations
Amortization of capital assets Prepaid expenses Inventory used Other Services provided without charges Employee severance benefits adjustments	(1,798) (606) (260) (119) (4,142) (401)	(1,611) (420) - (116) (3,226) (752)
Items not charged to revenue/expenses
Capital acquisitions Developed software - addition Work in progress - addition Inventory purchased Reimbursement of obligation under capital leases Prepaid expenses Other	1,846 - 3,355 1,211 402 921 -	882 285 1,635 - 1,316 - 146
Total Appropriations Used	73,586	49,573

b) Reconciliation to parliamentary appropriations voted

(thousands of dollars)	2003	2002
Authority:
Vote 30 (20 in 2002) - Program expenditures	12,973	12,792
Statutory contributions to employee benefit plans	5,174	2,391
Collection agency fees	-	1
Other statutory expenditures	55,882	35,489
Spending of proceeds from disposal of surplus crown assets	2	17
Total	74,031	50,690
Less: Lapsed appropriation - Program expenditures (Vote 30)	(445)	(1,117)
Total Authorities Used	73,586	49,573

4. Tangible Capital Assets

(thousands of dollars)	Machinery & Equipment	Informatics Equipment	Software	Work in Progress Dev. Software	Furniture & Fixtures	Vehicles	Leasehold Improvements	Total
Opening Cost	673	4,695	371	1,635	425	138	-	7,937
Current year transactions Additions	99	1,085	588	3,355	-	-	350	5,477
Net Disposal	(37)	(147)	-	-	-	-	-	(184)
Net write-downs	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Closing Cost	735	5,633	959	4,990	425	138	350	13,230
Opening Accumulated Amortization	279	2,839	18	-	267	104	-	3,507
Net Disposal	(37)	-	-	-	-	-	-	(37)
Current Year Amortization	144	1,408	208	-	28	10	-	1,798
Net Book Value	349	1,386	733	4,990	130	24	350	7,962

5. Capital Lease Obligations

(thousands of dollars)	2003
2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006	85 35 14
Total future minimum lease payments	134
Less: Imputed interests	(5)
Balance of Capital Lease Obligations	129

6. Employee Severance Benefits Obligation

Elections Canada provides post-retirement and post-employment benefits to its employees through a severance benefit plan. These benefit plans are not pre-funded and therefore have no assets.

(thousands of dollars)	2003	2002
Obligation, beginning of year	1,894	1,142
Expense for the year	459	996
Benefits paid during the year	(59)	(244)
Obligation, end of year	2,294	1,894

7. Commitments and Contingencies

a) Commitments

Elections Canada has commitments for operating leases of equipment of approximately $16 million for future years.

Minimum annual payments under these agreements for the next five years are approximately as follows:

(thousands of dollars)
2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008	$4,800 $5,500 $4,800 $ 800 $ -

b) Contingencies

In the normal course of its operations, Elections Canada may become involved in various legal actions. Some of these liabilities may become actual liabilities when one or more future events could occur. To the extent that the future event is likely to occur, and a reasonable estimate of the loss can be made, a liability is accrued and an expense recorded in the financial statements.

No contingent liabilities relating to Elections Canada are recognized on the Office's financial statements for fiscal year ended March 31, 2003.

8. Related Party Transactions

Elections Canada is related in terms of common ownership to all Government of Canada departments, and Crown Corporations. Elections Canada enters into transactions with these entities in the normal course of business and on normal trade terms. Certain of these transactions are on normal trade terms applicable to all individuals and enterprises, while others are services provided without charge.

During the year, Elections Canada expensed $11.5 million ($7.7 million in 2001/2002) from transactions in the normal course of business with other government departments, agencies and Crown Corporations. These expenses include services provided without charge: $3.2 million ($2.3 million in 2001/2002) for the rental of space, $955 thousand ($893 thousand in 2001/2002) for employee benefits covering the employer's share of insurance premiums and cost paid by Treasury Board, $5 thousand ($58 thousand in 2001/2002) for employer's portion of Worker's compensation payments paid by Human Resources Development Canada, $15 thousand ($2 thousand in 2001/2002) for salary and costs of legal services provided by Justice Canada.

9. Subsequent Events

The Canada Elections Act was amended by Bill C-24 and will come into force January 1, 2004.

Besides that, since March 31, 2003, there have been no other events, new or amended legislation, regulations or directives, which should be reflected or disclosed.

C. Other information

Federal political contributions and tax credits claimed

The table below shows the number of contributions received by registered political parties and candidates, the total value of the contributions, and the estimated tax credits provided to individuals and corporations, as supported by official tax receipts for the corresponding calendar years. Tax credit amounts fluctuate between electoral events, although they tend to increase with the approach of a general election (see the amounts for 1993 and 1997). Federal political contributions from corporations appear to follow the same trend as those from individuals.

The information on contributions for 1991 to 1993 is extracted from the Elections Canada publication Contributions and Expenses of Registered Political Parties and Candidates for the General Election of 1993. Information for 1994 to 2001 is extracted from Elections Canada records. Information on contributions to candidates is provided only for the general elections of 1993, 1997 and 2000.

The source of estimated tax credits claimed by individuals is the yearly edition of Income Statistics (Canada Customs and Revenue Agency), and for corporations is information from the Corporations Statistics Section of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. N/A means that the estimated amounts were not available at the time this report was prepared.

Federal political contributions and estimated tax credits claimed

	Number of contributions
	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Registered political parties	222,376	176,823	184,369	203,533	217,792	173,304	168,369	408,780	105,447	167,373
Candidates	160,944	-	-	-	121,159	-	-	107,518	-	-
Total	383,320	176,823	184,369	203,533	338,951	173,304	168,369	512,298	105,447	167,373
	Value of contributions ($ thousands)
	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Registered political parties	53,793	33,560	37,631	41,658	55,290	31,935	34,194	57,100	31,540	33,526
Candidates	42,210	-	-	-	38,665	-	-	41,849	-	-
Total	96,003	33,560	37,631	41,658	93,955	31,935	34,194	98,949	31,540	33,526
	Estimated tax credits claimed ($ thousands)
	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Corporations	1,009	917	571	515	1,099	674	509	926	881	N/A
Individuals	19,590	9,192	9,945	10,320	15,396	9,735	10,439	19,922	8,802	N/A
Total	20,599	10,109	10,516	10,835	16,495	10,409	10,948	20,848	9,683	N/A

Contacts for further information

Mail:	Elections Canada 257 Slater Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0M6
Telephone:	1 800 463-6868 toll-free in Canada and the United States 001 800 514-6868 toll-free in Mexico (613) 993-2975 from anywhere in the world For people who are deaf or hard of hearing: TTY 1 800 361-8935 toll-free in Canada and the United States
Fax:	(613) 954-8584 1 888 524-1444 toll-free in Canada and the United States
Web site:	www.elections.ca
Media information
Telephone:	1 800 267-7360 (613) 993-2224 TTY 1 800 361-8935
Fax:	(613) 954-8584

Office of the Chief Electoral OfficerPerformance ReportFor the period ending March 31, 2003

The Chief Electoral Officer's Message

The Context for Our Performance

Elections Canada's Strategic Outcomes

Annexes

I. The Chief Electoral Officer's Message

II. The Context for Our Performance

Factors influencing our performance

Strategic relationships

Measuring our performance

III. Elections Canada's Strategic Outcomes

Government-wide initiatives and federal public service priorities

The diversity of Elections Canada's workforce

Designated group

Elections Canada, 2002-2003

Public Service of Canada, 2001-2002

Labour force availability, 2000-2001

1. Event delivery

Context and background

Resources used

Financial information ($ thousands)

Planned spending

Total authorities

Actuals

Outcomes achieved

1. Event delivery: Summary of performance against plans

2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities commitments

2002-2003 performance

2. Event readiness and improvements

Context and background

Resources used

Financial information ($ thousands)

Planned spending

Total authorities

Actuals

Outcomes achieved

2. Event readiness and improvements: Summary of performance against plans

2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities commitments

2002-2003 performance

Communications tool

Average rating

3. Public education, information and support on electoral matters

Context and background

Resources used

Financial information ($ thousands)

Planned spending

Total authorities

Actuals

Outcomes achieved

3. Public education, information and support: Summary of performance against plans

2002-2003 Report on Plans and Priorities commitments

2002-2003 performance

Annexes

A. Financial performance

Financial performance overview

Financial summary tables

Table 1: Financial requirements by authority ($ thousands)

2002-2003

Planned spending

Total authorities

Actual

Table 2: Agency planned vs. actual spending by funding authority, 2002-2003 ($ thousands)

Funding authority

Full-time equiv-alent

Oper-ating

Capital

Voted grants and contri-butions

Subtotal: Gross voted expend-itures

Statutory payments

Total gross expend-itures

Less: Respend-able revenues

Total net expend-itures

Table 3: Historical comparison of total planned spending to actual spending ($ thousands)

2002-2003

Actual 2000-2001

Actual 2001-2002

Planned spending

Total authorities

Actual

Table 4: Statutory payments by funding authority ($ thousands)

Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Performance Report
For the period ending March 31, 2003

Elections Canada,
2002-2003

Public Service of Canada,
2001-2002

Labour force availability,
2000-2001

Financial information
($ thousands)

Financial information
($ thousands)

2002-2003 Report on Plans
and Priorities commitments

Financial information
($ thousands)

Table 1: Financial requirements by authority
($ thousands)

Planned
spending

Total
authorities

Table 2: Agency planned vs. actual spending by funding authority, 2002-2003
($ thousands)

Table 3: Historical comparison of total planned spending to actual spending
($ thousands)

Actual
2000-2001

Actual
2001-2002

Table 4: Statutory payments by funding authority
($ thousands)

Actual
2000-2001

Actual
2001-2002

Table 5: Transfer payments
($ thousands)

Actual
2000-2001

Actual
2001-2002

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Statement of Financial Position (Unaudited)

As at March 31
(thousands of dollars)

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Statement of Operations and Net Assets (Unaudited)

For the year ended March 31
(thousands of dollars)

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Statement of Cash Flow (Unaudited)

For the year ended March 31
(thousands of dollars)

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
Notes to Financial Statements (Unaudited)

Machinery
& Equipment

Work in Progress
Dev. Software

Furniture &
Fixtures