Compliance Agreements

Commissioner Of Canada Elections

Canada Elections Act

Compliance Agreement

This notice is published by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, pursuant to section 521 of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9.

On June 29, 2016, the Commissioner of Canada Elections entered into a Compliance Agreement with Mr. Gordon Boleychuk, pursuant to section 517 of the Canada Elections Act. The text of the Compliance Agreement is set out in full below.

June 29, 2016

Yves Côté, QC

Commissioner of Canada Elections

Compliance Agreement

Pursuant to section 517 of the Canada Elections Act (the Act), the Commissioner of Canada Elections (the Commissioner) and Mr. Gordon Boleychuk (the Contracting Party) enter into this agreement aimed at ensuring compliance with the Act.

The provisions of the Act that are applicable are paragraphs 167(2)(a) and (c) and 489(3)(e), which make it an offence for a person to alter, deface or destroy a ballot, or to take a ballot out of a polling station.

Statements of the Contracting Party

For the purpose of this Compliance Agreement, the Contracting Party acknowledges the following:

• On October 10, 2015, the Contracting Party went to an advance polling station in Calgary, Alberta, where he requested and received a ballot in order to vote.
• Instead of casting his vote, however, the Contracting Party walked out of the polling station with his ballot.
• An election officer followed the Contracting Party and advised him that the Act prohibits anyone from taking a ballot outside of the polling station.
• Although the Contracting Party returned inside the polling station with the ballot, he subsequently tore it into pieces.
• The Contracting Party's conduct contravened paragraphs 167(2)(a) and (c) of the Act which prohibit, respectively, wilfully altering, defacing or destroying a ballot, and wilfully taking a ballot out of the polling station.
• Pursuant to paragraph 489(3)(e) of the Act, it is an offence to contravene paragraph 167(2)(a) or paragraph 167(2)(c).
• The Contracting Party's conduct was disruptive and temporarily prevented election officers from performing their regular duties.
• The Contracting Party acknowledges and accepts responsibility for these acts.
• The Contracting Party understands that acknowledgement of non-compliance does not constitute a guilty plea in the criminal sense and that no record of conviction is created as a result of admitting responsibility for acts that could constitute an offence under the Act.
• The Contracting Party acknowledges that the Commissioner has advised him of his right to be represented by counsel and that he has had the opportunity to obtain counsel.

Factors considered by the Commissioner

In entering into this Compliance Agreement, the Commissioner took into account the factors set out in paragraph 32 of the Commissioner's Compliance and Enforcement Policy, which is available on the Commissioner's Web site at www.cef-cce.ca, including the fact that the Contracting Party cooperated with the investigation into this matter.

Undertaking and agreement

Under this Compliance Agreement, the Contracting Party undertakes to comply with the relevant provisions of the Act in the future.

The Contracting Party consents to the publication of this Compliance Agreement in the Canada Gazette and on the Commissioner's Web site.

The Commissioner agrees that the fulfillment by the Contracting Party of its undertaking in this Compliance Agreement will constitute compliance with the agreement.

Pursuant to subsection 517(8) of the Act, the Commissioner and the Contracting Party recognize that once this Compliance Agreement is entered into, the Commissioner will be prevented from referring this matter for prosecution to the Director of Public Prosecutions unless there is non-compliance with the terms of the Compliance Agreement, and in any event, the Director of Public Prosecutions cannot institute such a prosecution unless non-compliance is established.