Green shoots of transparency

The official report of the Humber West by-election has been published, and was so published only 34 days after the electoral event described therein.

The previous outing, the Conception Bay East–Bell Island by-election, inexplicably took 89 days. That's nothing, though, compared to by-elections held during the previous legislature (and under previous Chief Electoral Officers), whose official reports ranged from 111 days (Labrador West, 2007) to a staggering 184 days (Placentia and St. Mary's, 2006).

For some ungodly reason, the Elections Act gives the Chief Electoral Officer up to nine months to publish election reports, even in the case of by-elections which have at most a few thousand votes gathered among a few dozen polls.

The previous general election report, for equally ungodly reasons, took almost nine months exactly for the CEO to issue. Much larger provinces with many more electors are somehow able to cut this time by two-thirds.

Still missing in action are the financial disclosures from the two by-elections held during 2010.