BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jean-Pierre Kingsley, a former hospital administrator, was appointed Canada's Chief Electoral Officer in 1990. He held that position for 17 years, resigning on February 16, 2007. During his time in office, he cut a wide swath through our electoral system, happily charging many with infractions to his hallowed Canada Elections Act. For example, Paul Bryan, a software engineer in Vancouver, committed a dastardly deed in the 2000 federal election by posting the election results on the internet before the polls closed in British Columbia. A contemptible act, according to Mr. Kingsley, who quickly had the individual charged.

Mr. Kingsley was noted for his over-centralizing and bureaucratizing of the federal electoral process, and for his court challenges to third-party advertising, such as the charges laid against the National Citizens Coalition in 2000, which was headed then by Stephen Harper. At that time, Mr. Harper called Mr. Kingsley "dangerous". He may have been right.

Mr. Kingsley, as Chief Electoral Officer, was appointed by a resolution of the House of Commons. He held the rank of a Deputy Minister and was paid the salary of a Federal Court Judge, $216,600 annually.

Under S. 18 of the Canada Elections Act, the Chief Electoral Officer is entitled to "… implement public education and information programs to make the electoral process better known and to use any media or other means …" relating to Canada's electoral process.

Mr. Kingsley regarded S.18 of the Act as empowering him to do whatever he liked, whenever he liked. The Chief Electoral Officer is required to report directly to Parliament, but, under the Liberals, he was given a free hand to do exactly what he wanted to promote his own liberal agenda. Two examples:

1. Manipulating School Children

In 1999, Mr. Kingsley, working with UNICEF Canada, requested 15,000 schools in Canada to conduct an organized "vote" by school children in regard to their "rights" set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A very liberal interpretation of this Convention was included in his package of information, which not only treated children as miniature adults, but also portrayed parents as causing undue restrictions on a child's right to privacy, freedom of expression, religion, association (which would include a cult) and having access to pornography, etc.

In sending out the educational package, Mr. Kingsley had gone over the heads of both the provincial governments and parents, directly approaching the children to vote for their favourite "right" on so-called election day, November 19, 1999, in special "polling stations" set up in their schools. The results were to be broadcast nationally and presented to the federal government as a "Children's Rights Mandate."

The provincial Ministers of Education, schools, and parents were enraged by Mr. Kingsley's high-handed tactics, and his failure to seek approval before involving the schools. As a result, many school boards across Canada passed resolutions rejecting the plan.

REAL Women was so concerned about this phony vote by children that we wrote, not only to every provincial and territorial Minister of Education, but also to over 400 school boards across Canada advising them of this plan, and requesting that they reject it. Many did so and had not even been aware of the vote prior to receiving our letter.

2. Supporting the Feminist Agenda

The federal Status of Women gave a Quebec Women's group called Women's Political Equality (Groupe Femmes, Politique et Démocratie), which was founded in 1998, a $19,000 grant in 2000-01, and in 2001-02 a $27,800 grant to prepare a pamphlet, grandly called "The Project of the Century." The "project" was to push for more female candidates in the electoral process, especially by way of female quotas. This biased pamphlet stated it was supported by Elections Canada and the pamphlet was posted in its entirety on the Elections Canada website during the December 2005 - January 2006 federal election campaign. Its message was clear: Vote for and promote female candidates. The document included the usual feminist myths that women did not earn the same pay as men. The pamphlet did not disclose that because of family responsibilities, women customarily work shorter hours in lower paying occupations than men, and as a result, have a lower average income, based not on discrimination, but rather on women's life and work choices.

The pamphlet also complained that governments generally balk at establishing rules and regulations that promote "women's access to power". The pamphlet, in short, was a feminist diatribe aimed at promoting feminism and feminists to power through the electoral process. This unbalanced pamphlet was sheer propaganda and could in no way be characterized as "education". This pamphlet still remains as a link on Election Canada's website: www.elections.ca

Kingsley Resigns

Mr. Kingsley abruptly resigned from his position as Chief Electoral Officer on February 16, 2007. He fervently denied his resignation had anything to do with his recent disagreement with the Conservatives over whether that party broke the law by failing to disclose $500,000 in political donations. The Conservatives' controversy with Mr. Kingsley was settled in December. Mr. Kingsley definitely did not like the fact that, for the first time, someone (the Conservative government) was apparently looking over his shoulder, and, as a result, he was no longer the absolute monarch of his domain, as he had been under the Liberals.

In any case, Mr. Kingsley, a public servant, left his position in February with a fist full of taxpayers' money, as has become the norm for departing civil servants in recent years. For example, Mr. Kingsley and four of his senior managers spent $39,000 on a seven-day trip to England and Scotland to study electoral systems in December. This occurred three weeks after his resignation was submitted. Mr. Kingsley also claimed hospitality expenses for an $822 wrap-up dinner at the exclusive Rideau Club in Ottawa with six of his senior managers, just two days before the final day on the job.

New Electoral Officer Appointed

A new Chief Electoral Officer has now been appointed. He is Marc Mayrand, a former law professor who taught insolvency and corporate law at the University of Ottawa and who, since 1997, has served as Superintendent of Bankruptcy with the federal government. If there is an election any time soon, Mr. Mayrand will not have an easy time getting up to speed on the complexities of running that election. He'll need a lot of luck just to survive!

In the meantime, please write to Mr. Mayrand and request that the offending feminist propaganda pamphlet, "The Project of the Century," be removed from Election Canada's website.

Please write to:

Mr. Marc Mayrand
Chief Electoral Officer
257 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0M6
Tel: 1 800 463-6868
Fax: 613 954-8584
1 888 524 1444

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS