Marc Mayrand is a Canadian public servant who served as the sixth chief electoral officer of Canada from 2007 to 2016, where he oversaw Elections Canada.
Marc Mayrand | |
|---|---|
| 6th Chief Electoral Officer of Canada | |
| In office 2007–2016 | |
| Preceded by | Jean-Pierre Kingsley |
| Succeeded by | Stéphane Perrault |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada |
| Residence | Ottawa, Ontario |
| Alma mater | University of Ottawa London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Civil servant |
| Profession | Chief Electoral Officer |
Career
editMayrand studied law at the University of Ottawa and the London School of Economics.
He taught briefly, then joined the national Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy in 1982, and stayed until 2007. He rose to the top job there in 1997.
In 2007, he was appointed Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada, an independent agency of the Parliament of Canada responsible for supervising the election campaign financing and voting methods. He refused to alter the voting procedure to require Muslim women to remove their veils, as it was not a requirement under the Canada Elections Act.[1]
In 2011, he called on Parliament to revamp the current election laws, which include lifting the blackout of television and radio election coverage in areas where polls are still open, due to the expansion of the use of social media, citing that "its very intelligibility and usefulness in a world where the distinction between private communication and public transmission is quickly eroding."[2][3]
Mayrand announced that he was stepping down from his position as of December 28, 2016 in order to allow his successor to be involved in any changes the government should choose to make to the voting system in Canada.[4]
References
edit- ^ Toronto Star. "Quiet civil servant stares down MPs"; 15 September 2007. Accessed 21 April 2008.
- ^ The Globe and Mail: "Lift election-night blackout and test e-voting, electoral officer says", August 17, 2011.
- ^ Elections Canada: "Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 41st General Election of May 2, 2011", August 17, 2011.
- ^ Marc Mayrand to step down as Chief Electoral Officer of Canada" Ottawa Citizen. June 6, 2016
.svg){kind=small}  | This biography of a person who has held a non-elected position in the Government of Canada is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |