Ron Gould

Ron Gould CM retired from Elections Canada after 20 years service. Since 1984, when he was a member of the OAS and Canadian monitoring missions in El Salvador, he has participated in more than 100 election assistance missions in over 60 countries. Gould is considered one of the leading world experts on the organization and management of elections. Among his assignments, Gould was a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa in 1994; he was the leader of the UN planning mission to Eastern Slavonia in 1996; the head of the OSCE Elections Missions in Bosnia in 1995 and 1996; the head of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Haiti in 1995; director of UN Electoral Observation Mission in Mozambique in 1994; head of the UN election design mission in Cambodia 1991; member of the election observation teams in Guatemala and Honduras in 1985 and 1990; a member of the UN electoral assessment team in Algeria in 1997; and participated in OSCE missions in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in 1998-99, and Northern Ireland, Spain and the USA in 2004; and the UK in 2005; with IFES in Kosovo in 1999-2004. Gould has been an advisor to the Cambodian Government (1996), to the Supreme Electoral Committee of Yemen (1996), for local elections in the West Bank (1996), and an observer of the Palestine elections in 2005 and 2006; to the Russian Election Commission (1995). He was a member of the Carter Center advisory and observation teams in Venezuela in 2000& 2004; in Nigeria in 2002 and 2003, in Jamaica in 1997, 2002 and 2003 and Ethiopia in 2005. He was also a consultant to and observer for the Commonwealth Secretariat in Kenya in 1992, and in Zanzibar and Nigeria in 2003; and the UN in Sierra Leone, and Namibia in 2004. Mr. Gould joined the Public Service of Canada in 1955 and has worked for a variety of departments and agencies including Northern Affairs, the Public Service Commission, the Department of Transport, the Treasury Board and Secretary of State where he was Registrar of Canadian Citizenship. He also spent several years in Quebec City as Deputy Director of Parks and Tourism. From 1981, he was the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer for Elections Canada. In 1997, he joined the Stockholm based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) on a half-time basis. He has been President of the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws, of the Royal Canadian Navy Curling Club and of the Ottawa-Chapter of the Public Personnel Association. As well as being made a member of the Order of Canada he received the Outstanding Service Award from the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws; the Medal of Honor from the United Nations Association of Canada; the Canadian Peacekeeping Medal; the Queen’s Jubilee Medal; and the 10 Years of Democracy in South Africa award. Gould published one book entitled "A Guide for Election Observers" and he was one of the three authors of "Strengthening Democracy: A Parliamentary Perspective", which was published in 1995. He graduated from Toronto University, and has undertaken specific studies at Laval University, Carleton University, McGill University, Queen's University and at the Public Service Commission in Canada.

Thematic Areas of Expertise