Election workers do get training
Re: Hire experienced election workers, by Paul Synnott, Oct. 31.
Paul Synnott’s assertion that “experienced” people only should be hired by Elections Canada to ensure that errors are avoided in the voting process is commendable but it is also extremely problematic.
As a former Elections Canada and Elections Ontario employee, and a past elected municipal councillor, I’d like to put forth a few comments.
First, election personnel are given training — obviously a greater depth of training would be beneficial, as it would be for any employee, but it would also be more costly. I’m sure Mr. Synnott, however, would speak loudly in favour of this cost increase for the taxpayers who foot the bill and already think elections cost too much money.
Second, although he says he is a campaign manager, he apparently hasn’t any concept of how difficult it is for Elections Canada or Elections Ontario, municipal councils, to get people to even work on elections — 14-hour days, minimum wages, no lunch break on election day for DROs and poll clerks, and the continual stress to have people complain in your face doesn’t exactly promote a lineup for Elections Canada jobs — which, by the way, generally occurs every three to four years for a few weeks.
Hardly often enough to make it a career choice for anyone.
Third, while election employment prospect lists are submitted by political parties, people can apply for election jobs online as well. There is nothing that forces Elections Canada to hire people on these lists if they think a person is unsuitable for an election job position.
By the way, it is usually the campaign managers who are responsible for submitting those lists. So if the names of incapable persons are submitted, Mr. Synnott would have only himself to blame for those persons submitted on his list.
He also implies in his letter to the editor that Elections Canada doesn’t hire people with past expertise. It is my experience they try as often as possible to do so.
Personally, I have watched local returning officers and their staff work in highly stressful situations under circumstances of limited time, with limited resources, and facing definitive deadlines, train as best they possibly could personnel to run elections.
Often this has been detrimental to the staff members’ own personal health.
In my opinion, it’s possible that election- day personnel may make some mistakes, apparently not something Mr. Synnott has ever done, but local Elections Canada personnel do their very best to hire and train intelligent and responsible people who apply for election jobs.
If the quality of people or the skill set they bring to the job is not to his liking, perhaps Mr. Synnott could ask the Conservative Party he supports to increase the funding for Elections Canada staff, and election employee training, in the next federal budget.
Perhaps they could even be paid as much as, say, campaign managers.
ROBERT W. SINCLAIR, LaSalle