Driving home from CFB Trenton this afternoon after attending the ceremony there where Ministers O’Connor, Fortier, and Bernier and CDS Hillier announced plans to buy lots of planes — I have a little time to read some of the documents piling up in my electronic inbox.
The Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 39th General Election of January 23, 2006 has some interesting tidbits. For example, Elections Canada reports some results from the 2004 Canadian Election Study. This is an academic survey of electors and involves three separate polls involving about 10,000 respondents. Here are some of the data points that jumped out at me:
- Half of those surveyed had no opinion on matters related to political financing.
- 82 per cent of those surveyed favoured a ban on buying bulk party memberships for distribution.
- 97 per cent said membership in a political party ought to be open only to those old enough to actually vote.
Elections Canada sez: “A link to the report of the 2004 Canadian Election Study is available at www.elections.ca, under Electoral Law, Policy and Research > Policy and Research. The Canadian Election Study database for the 38th general election is available at www.ces-eec.umontreal.ca.” And if that confuses you — just click here.
Quite a few people complained to Elections Canada about the 2004 Election:
By April 5, 2006, the Commissioner of Canada Elections had received 1,574 complaints stemming from the June 2004 general election. Of these, 1,321 cases have been resolved, while 253 remain open. In settling some cases, the Commissioner has, to date, concluded a total of 17 compliance agreements with contracting parties. Additionally, one prosecution arising from the 37th general election (for failure to register as a third party and to file an election advertising report) ended with a conviction, on January 6, 2006. (p 22)