The Royal Commission on Electoral Reform was established by Order in Council P.C. 2290, 15 November 1989, under Part 1 of the Inquiries Act and on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
The original Commissioners were: Pierre Lortie, Chairman, Lucie Pépin, Donald H. Oliver, and Elwood Lorrie Cowley. Oliver and Cowley resigned and were replaced by Robert Thomas Gobor and William Knight. The Secretary was Guy Goulard.
Hearings of the commission were held in 27 cities across Canada from 12 March to 21 September 1990.
In his annual report to Parliament in 1989, the Chief Electoral Officer (the CEO), Jean-Marc Hamel said that the voting system was in a state of "crises" and strongly urged that the Canada Election Act be reformed. Many of his demands for changes to this Act and the Election Expenses Act, which limited and defined election expenses, had been made by him in earlier reports.
In June 1986, the Government of Canada tabled a White Paper on Electoral Reform which was based in part on recommendations of the CEO. It proposed to extend the vote to more Canadians, to make voting processes more convenient and to modernize the administration of elections. It also recommended that government advertising during election campaigns be controlled and that more information accompany opinion poll results.
However, in 1988 Parliament was dissolved before the reforms contained in Bill C-79 (the electoral changes based on the White Paper) were enacted. It soon became apparent that reforms were needed all the more because court challenges under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were resulting in decisions that altered electoral laws. The CEO wanted Parliament to make changes to the electoral system not the courts.
In the Speech from the Throne of 3 April 1989, the Government of Canada promised to investigate the electoral system and on 15 November 1989, the public inquiry was formally established. It was to look at the means by which parties are funded, the provisions and use of funds, the limits to funding, the qualifications of voters and the way in which the voters list is compiled.
The records consists of: minutes of meetings, transcripts of hearings and submissions. Also, included are research files including working papers, issue papers, studies and reports.
