From the Chief Electoral Officer – 2022–23 Departmental Plan

It is my pleasure to present my Office's 2022–23 Departmental Plan. This plan is intended to provide Canadians with information about the work of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer for this upcoming fiscal year.

Elections Canada successfully delivered the 44th general election on September 20, 2021. As this election resulted in a minority Parliament, our immediate priority is to ensure that the agency is well-positioned to deliver the next election, which could be called at any time.

During fiscal year 2022–23, Elections Canada will continue to focus on wrapping up the 44th general election. This work includes seeing that the independent audit of poll worker performance is completed and auditing the financial returns of political entities. Conducting an election during the COVID-19 pandemic presented Elections Canada with unique challenges, along with opportunities for improvement. The agency will carry out comprehensive post-election assessments and surveys to review the experience of electors, candidates and election workers and to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement. The agency will also publish a retrospective report on the 44th general election, informed by our post-event reviews, as well as a report recommending legislative changes to improve the administration of the Canada Elections Act.^{Footnote i}

Elections Canada will also continue to work on its long-term digital strategy. This strategy will guide how we enhance our future service offerings for all electors. We will invest in making our services more agile, and in technologies that add incremental value and provide authoritative data, to support our decision making. Our digital strategy will also help us to become more responsive to the needs of Canadians while we work in a hybrid work environment.

Finally, this fiscal year, Elections Canada will support the decennial review of electoral boundaries. Though the 10 independent electoral boundaries commissions leading this effort operate at arm's length from the agency, we will play a key role in providing them with the tools and data necessary to do their work.

While our work environment is ever-changing, our vision remains the same: upholding an electoral democracy that serves all Canadians and that Canadians trust. Regardless of what the future may hold, I am confident that we will be able to rise to the challenges ahead.

Stéphane Perrault

Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

• Table of Contents
• Next