Hugh MacDonald, MLA

The Issue

The March 2008 election highlighted the control the Progressive Conservative party exerts over elections in Alberta. The early appointment of impartial Returning Officers is crucial for fair elections. Failure to so, and the involvement of the Progressive Conservative Association in the appointment process, resulted in incomplete voting lists, inadequate training for staff, accusations of partisanship on the part of elections officials, and what may be summed up by the headline "Our Worst-Run Election Ever".

Why It's Important

Returning Officers run the show in each riding, including:

• planning the enumeration of the electoral division
• checking the voters list for accuracy
• determing where voting stations will be located
• hiring staff to work throughout the period of the election
• training Deputy Returing Officers

Returning Officers must be impartial and have significant time to properly discharge their responsibilities. Beginning in May 2006, former Chief Electoral Officer Lorne Gibson repeatly tried to get a list of Returning Officers from the Minister of Justice. In September 2007, he was informed that the Progressive Conservative Association would provide Elections Alberta with a list of Returning Officers. In December 2007, he was finally given a list - of the Returning Officers of 2004. "Essentially, Gibson was a general going into battle with an army of inadequately trained recruits. No wonder the war was lost. - SEE Magazine"

What Should Be Done

There are a few obvious recommendations, none of which have been adopted by the Alberta Government or endorsed by the Progressive Conservative Party:

1. The Chief Electoral Officer must be independent of the government. Like judges, he should only be removed for cause. At present though, the government has the option of not renewing his contract after each election. In the case of Fred Dunn:

This man was making every effort to improve the financial disclosures of each and every party, of each and every candidate, and also made solid recommendations so the fiasco from 2008 would not reoccur in the next election. And what do we do? We fire him for his fine efforts," said MacDonald. - CBC News - Aberta drops election boss

2. Returning Officers shoud be appointed by the Chief Electoral Officer:

• The Progressive Conservative Association and the Premier's Office should have no role in the process.
• Returning Officers should be selected based on qualifications related to their duties, not their political affiliation.
• Returning Officers should be appointed on a timely basis.

In Our Constituency

Lest we regard election problems as something that mostly happens elsewhere, correpondence between myself and Elections Alberta is attached. As detailed therein, I was concerned about events that occurred at a couple of polling stations.