Planned Spending and Human Resources – 2022–23 Departmental Plan

This section provides an overview of the agency's planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022–23 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Financial Framework

Elections Canada's unique dual-funding mechanism and planning practices are part of its mandate. The agency is partly funded by an annual appropriation that covers the salaries of its indeterminate positions and is not affected by the electoral cycle. The agency also has a statutory authority that allows it to draw directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for all other expenses. The statutory authority ensures that Elections Canada has access to the funds required for elections that may occur at any time and reflects Elections Canada's independence from the government.

Under Canada's parliamentary system, general elections are scheduled to take place on fixed dates but can still be called in advance, particularly during a minority government. By-elections, which take place whenever seats in the House of Commons become vacant, are also unpredictable, as Elections Canada has no control over their frequency and timing. Legislative changes and market forces for procured goods and services can also significantly impact a general election

Planned Spending

Departmental Spending 2019–‍20 to 2024–‍25

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory) spending over time.

Budgetary Planning Summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of Election Canada's core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2022–23 and other relevant fiscal years.

Budgetary Planning Summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)
Core Responsibilities and Internal Services	2019–20 Expenditures	2020–21 Expenditures	2021–22 Forecast Spending	2022–23 Budgetary Spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2022–23 Planned Spending	2023–24 Planned Spending	2024–25 Planned Spending
Electoral Administration and OversightFootnote ¹	515,137,124	143,558,420	572,852,577	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Electoral Compliance and EnforcementFootnote ¹	N/A	7,770,484	7,003,925	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Regulatory OversightFootnote ² Footnote ^*	N/A	N/A	N/A	29,607,678	29,607,678	28,558,719	23,950,512
Electoral AdministrationFootnote ²	N/A	N/A	N/A	112,959,453	112,959,453	115,220,503	112,950,759
Electoral Boundaries Readjustment AdministrationFootnote ²	N/A	N/A	N/A	7,011,500	7,011,500	1,099,000	N/A
Subtotal	515,137,124	151,328,904	579,856,502	149,578,631	149,578,631	144,878,222	136,901,271
Internal Services	55,759,213	57,501,257	75,403,312	53,931,294	53,931,294	52,371,800	55,760,645
Total	570,896,337	208,830,161	655,259,814	203,509,925	203,509,925	197,250,022	192,661,916

Note 1: These core responsibilities will no longer be reported on after 2021–2022.

Note 2: These are new core responsibilities; therefore, there is no data for previous years.

Note *: In an early version of this report, the Budgetary Planning Summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars) table listed one of the core responsibilities incorrectly as “Electoral Oversight”. This has been corrected and the core responsibility is now listed as "Regulatory Oversight". Copies of the 2022–23 Departmental Plan that were downloaded or printed before the correction was made will show the incorrect name for the core responsibility.

The total planned spending shows the year-to-year fluctuation in resources. The agency's spending pattern generally reflects the election cycle: spending increases in the fiscal year before a general election, peaks in the fiscal year of an election and decreases sharply in the fiscal year following an election.

During the period presented in the table, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer delivered two general elections: the 43rd general election in fiscal year 2019–20 and the 44th general election in 2021–22. In the years following an election, the agency's expenditures generally decrease. However, in the context of a minority government and COVID-19, Election Canada had to return a full state of readiness immediately after both the 43rd and 44th general elections and prepare to implement adaptive measures needed to hold an election during a pandemic. As a result, expenditures did not decrease to their typical post-event levels. Additionally, the decennial redistribution of federal electoral boundaries began in 2020–21. These variations affect only the statutory portion of the funding.

As stated in the 2020–21 Departmental Plan, the agency's new cycle of investments in service modernization and asset renewal is expected to total approximately $50 million over four years (planned funding profile: $10 million for 2020–21, $8 million for 2021–22, $13 million for 2022–‍23 and $19 million for 2023–24). These investments are aligned with the agency's new digital strategy and serve to ensure that a secure and reliable infrastructure supports the electoral process in a way that will meet the expectations of Canadians. At this time, approved projects include the modernization of the National Register of Electors, the migration of the agency's financial system to the standard solution of the Government of Canada, the replacement of systems that support the political financing program, the long-term accommodation strategy and future of work, and the acquisition of virtual toolkits for employees who work remotely.

As shown in the graph, the agency's voted appropriation increased as a result of the Budget 2018 measure on rebalancing Elections Canada's expenditures, funding for signed collective bargaining agreements and the coming into force of the Elections Modernization Act^{Footnote xxv} and An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (political financing).^{Footnote xxvi}

Note: The annual expenditures by Internal Services as a proportion of the agency's total spending varies significantly by fiscal year. This is mostly due to the election cycle. In the years covered above, it varies between 10% and 29%, with an average of 17% over the period.

Planned Human Resources

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of Election Canada's core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2022–23 and the other relevant years.

Human Resources Planning Summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services

Human Resources Planning Summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services
Core Responsibilities and Internal Services	2019–20 Actual FTEs	2020–21 Actual FTEs	2021–22 Forecast FTEs	2022–23 Planned FTEs	2023–24 Planned FTEs	2024–25 Planned FTEs
Electoral Administration and OversightFootnote ¹	756	651	911	N/A	N/A	N/A
Electoral Compliance and EnforcementFootnote ¹	N/A	43	43	N/A	N/A	N/A
Regulatory OversightFootnote ² Footnote ^*	N/A	N/A	N/A	214	196	164
Electoral AdministrationFootnote ²	N/A	N/A	N/A	536	523	521
Electoral Boundaries Readjustment AdministrationFootnote ²	N/A	N/A	N/A	33	6	N/A
Subtotal	756	694	954	783	725	685
Internal Services	239	262	295	269	269	274
Total	995	956	1,249	1,052	994	959

Note 1: These core responsibilities will no longer be reported on after 2021–2022.

Note 2: These are new core responsibilities; therefore, there is no data for previous years

The fluctuation in full-time equivalents is also a result of the election cycle, largely explained by the same reasons stated in the budgetary planning summary.

Estimates by Vote

Information on Elections Canada's organizational appropriations is available in the 2022–‍23 Main Estimates.^{Footnote xxvii}

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations

The future oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of Elections Canada's operations for 2021–22 to 2022–23.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on Elections Canada's website.^{Footnote xxviii}

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations for the year ending March 31, 2023 (dollars)

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations for the year ending March 31, 2023 (dollars)
Financial Information	2021–22 Forecast Results	2022–23 Planned Results	Difference (2022–23 Planned Results minus 2021–22 Forecast Results)
Total expenses	690,330,601	218,145,638	-472,184,963
Total revenues	N/A	N/A	N/A
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	690,330,601	218,145,638	-472,184,963

The agency estimates $218.1 million in expenses for 2022–23. This represents a decrease of $472.2 million from the 2021–22 forecast results. This difference is mainly due to the conduct of the 44th general election which took place on September 20, 2021. The majority of the expenses of the general election are incurred in 2021–22.

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