Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me, and I apologize for my lack of facility in French. I've read the debate at second reading on November 2. I'm thankful to Michelle, the clerk, for connecting me with the audiocast of your hearings of last week, to which I listened

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay, let me make a political comment. I'm a resident of Ontario. In the 1990s, the Government of Ontario introduced a bill called the Fewer Politicians Act. Many of the senior cabinet ministers in that government are now senior cabinet ministers in the federal cabinet. I notic

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I haven't consulted with the governments, but I am a Manitoban. I grew up in Manitoba, and I was there when the seats were reduced and it wasn't an issue, because I sensed, as I think other Manitobans did, that the important point wasn't how many seats you had, but the proportion

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. I think for most of Canada's history, the boundaries were often set by the government, so we had gerrymandering. I think we're really quite advanced because we now have these independent electoral boundaries commissions and the legislation has been dramatically improved. I th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. I think you'd have one seat each for each of the territories. I heard Labrador mentioned. I should point out that we have split up constituencies where we have islands and mainland. I'm thinking of Elizabeth May's constituency, which includes the Gulf Islands and a large par

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that's doable. I think you can even drill it down further, as they have in the United States. I just think that in the Canadian tradition, there's been more of a focus in the jurisprudence on community interest, the historical traditions. There's more of a group focus in

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, I prefer fewer seats in the House of Commons. I got anxious about it once it hit about 295. Obviously, therefore, I would prefer 308 seats to 338 seats. I don't appreciate all the technicalities in the bill, but I don't understand, quite frankly, the projections that the cu

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You make an excellent point and I'm sympathetic to MPs who have to represent that many more constituents. One way it can be addressed, I think, without adding more MPs is, perhaps, providing for greater administrative support, more money so you could hire more people. That would

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I've heard the NDP speak on Quebec. Actually, Quebec has lost seats in the past. I'm not as sympathetic. I believe the people of Quebec accept the principle of proportionality. They accepted it in the Constitution Act of 1867, which hadn't been the case before that, when we had a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was just going to say that what we're dealing with here are just a number of different variables. You have to decide and you have to prioritize them. We're trying to take into account the pressures that you face, the very real pressures as an MP in representing people, and the