Evidence of meeting #22 for Electoral Reform in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was schools.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Strategic Advisor, Institut du Nouveau Monde, Institut du Nouveau Monde
Are you referring to the factors influencing young voter turnout?
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Yes, exactly. You did a good job highlighting those factors.
Strategic Advisor, Institut du Nouveau Monde, Institut du Nouveau Monde
It's important to remember that those three points emerged from a study. That isn't what came out of our consultations with young people. Those three factors are from the literature and are very important.
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Is there any reason to believe that those points have no connection to our voting system?
If we were to increase education and awareness in that regard, would that automatically increase young people's interest, regardless of the method of voting? Can you confirm that?
Strategic Advisor, Institut du Nouveau Monde, Institut du Nouveau Monde
Everything I've talked about, both in the brief and in my presentation, is based on comments from young people. The Institut du Nouveau Monde, the INM, is a non-partisan organization.
Strategic Advisor, Institut du Nouveau Monde, Institut du Nouveau Monde
I talked about exactly what came out of our consultations with young people and the studies.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I share my colleagues' sentiments regarding the work done by the witnesses and their organizations. These activities are crucial to getting not only young people, but all Canadians, engaged in the conversation.
Jane, if I could start with you, I share the view that the document that Samara has put together is an excellent one and a wonderful workbook to help frame the conversation around electoral reform and the conversations that should be ongoing. The value propositions that underlie the different systems are in there; it's a good, digestible description of the different systems. There's also advice on the way questions should be asked to direct conversations around electoral reform. Can you talk a little more about the thought that went into putting that workbook together and how your organization envisioned using that document, and how Canadians can benefit from the document?
Executive Director, Samara
Thanks very much.
It was pretty well the most complex research piece to put together and consider, given how much has been spent on studying different electoral systems in different parts of the world, and also applied in Canada under different consultations, whether in B.C. or Ontario or New Brunswick.
That's why in part we wanted to work with Stewart Prest, a political scientist from UBC, to help us pull together what we thought were the most essential details. That's why we came up with what are the questions you should ask Canadians? How does this work? What does it mean for voters? What does it mean for parties in Parliament? What does it mean for governing? Frame it as a question and answer to help organize the information as succinctly as possible. Then we tried to carefully pick our language so it was as unbiased as it could be, as factually based as we felt we be about the system and how it would work in Canada, with as plain language as possible.
Even then, it's still a thick report. It's not something you can read in five minutes. You still have to dedicate some time to dig into it, but we tried to design it in a way that was inviting to bring Canadians into the report. Since we released it just last week, we've had well over 200 downloads from all corners of the country, from offices of members of Parliament, I'm very pleased to report—who I hope are using it at their town halls—but also libraries, community groups, and any Canadians who have found their way to this report.
What we are really trying to do now, through the next month, is to push it out through community networks to umbrella organizations that have members in different parts of the country. Essentially, the most important page in here I think is how to get involved in the conversation. We outline how to participate in this committee through social media, through your e-consultations. That information is really important to share right now, so we're relying on our networks and other networks to do that work for us.
If we had more time and resources, it would be great to think about translating it to the needs of other learners, making it shorter for ESL learners, making it more engaging with video and the like. There's a rich realm of possibilities, but we're not going to be able to do that in the time and with the resources we have on this one.
Liberal
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
Maybe I'll give you time to follow up in greater depth on this when we come back around, Taylor, but if the language is modified for school-age children, what utility do you see a resource like this as having in helping your organization or schools to facilitate this conversation with young people? Are there plans in place with Civix to do just that?
President, Civix
We're making five two-minute videos in partnership with the great east coast group called Springtide Collective. There isn't any money behind it; we're trying to make it happen. Then, of course, we would do some brief curriculum-style downloadable documents.
We've had some of the people who have been here in front of you as witnesses, who have been terrific. We were hoping to engage Jonathan Rose as someone to build that over the summer for another project. You've got all sorts of people who can make something amazing if you invest the resources in it.
Liberal
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Okay. I feel like I have to ask a question about online voting because of your comment, Taylor.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Well, I guess I just will. I do have something else to ask as well, though.
I think we've been thrown off track because of all the witnesses we've had. The data just wasn't there to support going after that. I mean I still think it's a great idea and that we need to figure out how to do it, because I think that is the future.
Do you think now is the time to get into online voting?
President, Civix
I don't tweet very well, nor am I concerned about that, but I do take note every time I see credit card information or the Target data breach, all this sort of stuff, when thinking about comments that, “ You know, we should online vote.”
I think Mr. Kingsley called this a gizmo.
President, Civix
He thinks it's inevitable.
I don't know what you'd call me, other than an emerging old man, but there are still important things that you show up for. This is one of these things. I think those strange things that we still show up for emphasize their special type of importance.
I worry. I think the data they do have—and there's other people that have it—shows that it doesn't cause engagement. Making something easier doesn't necessarily make someone more interested. You discussed how you do things that cause interest and engagement. That's what's going to cause people to go out. Then you have problems with privacy, anonymity. We maybe think too much of ourselves, but there might be someone out there who would like to pick who our government is.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Now I'd like to get back to the voting age, because I do find it very interesting.
I know most of you have suggested, maybe some more directly than others, that lowering the voting age would make a difference. Are there other countries that have 16 or 17 as the voting age, and has it made a difference in voter turnout amongst youth?
