Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know that this is a question that I would deal with. If they have the right to vote in a general election, I don't know why they wouldn't on a referendum.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  To reiterate, I don't know why you wouldn't give them the right to vote. If you're giving them the ballot to vote for members, I don't see why you wouldn't give them the right to vote in a referendum.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That did not prove to be a problem at all, because you had to register separately. Parties and constituency associations were not allowed to participate, so that there would be no duplication. A candidate wanted to become involved had to register separately. None did. But it was

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's going to be quite an opinion.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I've never been an advocate of mandatory democracy. I thought it flew in the face of what a genuine democracy would be, which is your right to choose to do whatever you wish within the democracy. I think that would pretty much sum it up.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it's a catch-22. If you run the election and the referendum at the same time, it's in the best interest of the politician to stay out. If you run the referendum separately, I think there's a very big gain there. I got it as feedback in the course of the referendum: “we ex

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Because I trust the political entity entirely, I don't know that I would ever suggest that it would take advantage of a situation like that. I'm not convinced that they should be run at the same time, actually, because I think the waters become muddy; however, I don't know what

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that would fly in the face of our right to not participate.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I guess the comparison would be with the question whether or not, if a candidate runs and doesn't get a certain percentage, you allow them to take their seat.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In Ontario, definitely I do. The question was how you level the playing field, just as you say. If a yes campaign spends $50 million and the no campaign spends $100,000, what is the influence level? Is there one, or isn't there? I don't know. The people who make the rules have to

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. In fact, from the education perspective, we started in the month of June. That was when we were handed the education portfolio. Right away we polled to see how many people understood what was going on and felt comfortable that they could actually make a decision. We ran at a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I believe that there will always be people pushing that agenda. Are they getting less press time today than they were then? Yes, they are.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know that the Legislative Assembly is even talking about it at this point.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.