Thanks, Mr. Chair. This arises from a recommendation from the Chief Electoral Officer. After the vote is finished and the vote count starts, this is really about who should be there to witness the counting of the ballots. The Chief Electoral Officer raised a couple of issues in her report and in discussion with us that, sometimes, candidates don't have anybody at a poll when the count is being conducted. It is up to the Chief Electoral Officer or the Returning Officer to go and find a couple of electors to witness it. It puts them in a difficult position. They have to choose somebody, maybe somebody they know. It just opens the door to some issues around favouritism and so on. She felt that, to make this clear, there should be designated officials that can be there to witness the count.

In some cases, candidates have had their polling agents there or scrutineers there, and sometimes, they want to volunteer and get paid because you actually get paid to witness the count. We want to try to not have that situation arise, as well. This is to help clarify that and, I think, make sure that we have impartial observers for the count at the end of the day. Thanks, Mr. Chair.