The Commissioner may, at his or her own initiative or at the request of another, investigate any matter that might be a contravention of The Elections Act or The Election Financing Act.

The Commissioner may refuse to conduct an investigation if he or she considers a request to be frivolous, vexatious, made in bad faith or unnecessary in the circumstances.

When there is an investigation it is conducted by an investigative team led by independent legal counsel. At the conclusion of the investigation, the investigative legal counsel makes a recommendation to the Commissioner concerning further proceedings.

On receipt of an investigative report and recommendations, the matter is referred to general counsel and a second independent legal recommendation from general counsel is received.

With the benefit of the investigative report and legal advice, the Commissioner may do one of the following:

• lay charges
• for an alleged offence of an inadvertent or technical nature, issue a formal caution
• enter into a compliance agreement
• decide that no further action is required