Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
What Office of the Chief Electoral Officer spent in fiscal year 2025-26: its net expenditure by standard object, from the Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II.
Reports through Privy Council; the overview shows it in that ministry.
Spending, 2025-26
Net spending, 2025-26
$776M
spent by Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, less revenues it kept
Share, 2025-26
0.2%
of the net spending of every federal organization
How did Office of the Chief Electoral Officer spend its budget in 2025-26?
By standard object. Revenues it kept are negative and netted against its spending. Transfer payments are broken into their largest named programs.
Spending by standard object, 2025-26
Personnel
Transfer payments
Rentals
Professional and special services
Transportation and communications
Information
Acquisition of land, buildings and works
Utilities, materials and supplies
Acquisition of machinery and equipment
Repair and maintenance
Other subsidies and payments
$424M
$84.4M
$82M
$72M
$65M
$33M
$6.7M
$5M
$2.9M
$958K
-$107K
Total: $776M.
Workforce, 2025-26
Personnel spending
$424M
salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)
A full-time equivalent is a measure of employment, not a headcount: two half-time employees are one FTE. Personnel spending includes benefits and pension contributions, so per FTE it is not an average salary.
Transfer payment programs, 2025-26
The grants, contributions and other transfers Office of the Chief Electoral Officer paid, program by program: $84.4M in all, against $84.4M for the transfer payments object above (the Public Accounts publish the two tables separately).
| Reimbursement of election expenses to political parties for the 45th General ElectionPayments | Other transfer | $48,056,184 |
| Reimbursement of election expenses to candidates for the 45th general election, paid to assigned recipientPayments | Other transfer | $33,408,011 |
| Payment of subsidies to candidates' auditors for the 45th general electionPayments | Other transfer | $1,602,633 |
| Subsidies to electoral district associations' auditorsPayments | Other transfer | $1,036,895 |
| Reimbursement of election expenses to candidates, and payment of subsidies to candidates' auditors for the 44th general electionPayments | Other transfer | $109,183 |
| Reimbursement of election expenses to candidates and payments of subsidies to candidates' auditors for the current year by-electionsPayments | Other transfer | $102,304 |
| Reimbursement of election expenses to candidates, and payments of subsidies to candidates' auditors for other general elections and by-electionsPayments | Other transfer | $75,883 |
| 7 programs | $84,391,093 | |
Contracts of $10,000 and under
Contracts this small are not published one by one: Treasury Board publishes each organization's totals, by calendar year, for contracts of $10,000 and under (their original value and their amendments) and for acquisition card purchases. They are the value of contracts entered into, not what was paid in a fiscal year, so they are not part of the net expenditure above, and the years are calendar years.
| Calendar year | Goods | Services | Construction | Acquisition cards | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $33,122 | $584,600 | $0 | $16,133,811 | $16,751,532 |
| 2024 | $6,684 | $561,867 | $0 | $2,170,444 | $2,738,994 |
| 2023 | $53,399 | $606,668 | $0 | $1,908,420 | $2,568,487 |
| 2022 | $53,060 | $473,836 | $0 | $1,639,636 | $2,166,532 |
| 2020 | $83,592 | $473,155 | $0 | $1,911,718 | $2,468,466 |
| 2019 | $72,160 | $771,066 | $0 | $13,269,264 | $14,112,490 |
| 2018 | $236,657 | $733,563 | $0 | $2,026,286 | $2,996,506 |
| 2017 | $43,107 | $912,991 | $0 | $1,619,054 | $2,575,152 |
Office of the Chief Electoral Officer’s share of federal net spending
Other organizations in Privy Council
- Privy Council Office
- Public Service Commission of Canada
- Transportation Safety Board of Canada
- Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
- National Security and Intelligence Review Agency Secretariat
- Secretariat of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians
- Office of the Intelligence Commissioner
- Leaders’ Debates Commission
Sources
- Public Accounts of Canada 2026, Volume II: Ministerial expenditures by standard object (Table 3)
- Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II: Transfer payments (multi-year open data)
- Proactive Publication - Contracts: Aggregated Total - Contracts $10K and under
Department figures are net expenditure (Public Accounts, Volume II), which doesn’t add up to the accrual expenses of the overview’s headline. See the methodology.
