Marc Mayrand is a Canadian
public servant who served as the sixth
chief electoral officer of Canada
The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (french: Directeur général des élections du Canada) is the person responsible for the administration of elections, referendums and other aspects of the electoral system in Canada. The position was establishe ...
from 2007 to 2016, where he oversaw
Elections Canada
Elections Canada (french: Élections Canada)The agency operates and brands itself as Elections Canada, its legal title is Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (). is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal electio ...
.
Career
Mayrand studied law at the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...
and the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
.
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''.
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."
[The Globe and Mail: "Lift election-night blackout and test e-voting, electoral officer says", August 17, 2011.]
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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.Marc Mayrand to step down as Chief Electoral Officer of Canada" Ottawa Citizen. June 6, 2016
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References
Living people
Chief Electoral Officer (Canada)
People from Trois-Rivières
University of Ottawa alumni
Alumni of the London School of Economics
University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
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