Elections watchdog Marc Mayrand says trust in electoral system damaged
Posted May 29, 2012 1:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Elections watchdog Marc Mayrand says it’s critical that trust be restored in Canada’s electoral system.
The chief electoral officer acknowledges confidence in the system has been shaken by a recent court ruling overturning the election result in one Toronto riding, and by the so-called robocall scandal.
On the latter, Mayrand says Elections Canada has now received 1,100 complaints from voters claiming to have received calls directing them to phoney polling locations during last spring’s election.
Elections Canada’s budget is being cut by eight per cent, forcing the agency to put off some plans, such as a pilot project on Internet voting, and focus only on its highest priorities.
One of the highest, Mayrand says, will be training elections officials and ensuring that all procedural requirements are followed on voting day.
Procedural errors by elections officials resulted in a court recently overturning the election result in Toronto’s Etobicoke Centre.
