In the report produced in 2005, when I was chief electoral officer, a whole range of proposals to improve the process were made. Here the focus is on a bill that would basically redistribute seats and speed up the process. Other recommendations were made that, to my mind, should be dealt with by the commissions themselves. I had proposed that they be dealt with in legislation, but that may not be necessary.
Mr. Mayrand indicated in his testimony that he planned to hold a conference like the one I had organized, involving the chairman and the two other members of the electoral boundaries commissions. It was a 3-day conference that brought together 30 people. We went over various subjects and facets, for example, what constitutes a community, in order for there to be a common view of this concept. The improvements I was after should, in my view, be discussed, so they should be on the agenda at this specific conference, so that together, commission members can agree on how to improve their performance.
I will give you an example. I said that for aboriginal people, for members of first nations, the dimensions of reserves should be taken into account. One reserve was divided into two ridings.