Electoral Reform Committee on Aug. 31st, 2016

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Taylor Gunn]

In our federal elections, kids cast more ballots from 2004 to 2011—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

This is an interesting experience. I want your reflection on this because we're talking about modifications and some of these things can be small. You have your youth vote program, which I love and thank you for, the Student Vote .

[Taylor Gunn]

Yes.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

We did 15 high school debates during our federal election in Skeena, and the questions were killer and the students were prepped, and they were not coming in with partisan predispositions, unlike most. If you've been to town halls or debates, 50% to 80% of the crowd has made their mind up. These kids were in there looking at us with hard questions.

In the previous election, one of the local high schools tried to release the results a day or two early and were threatened with a lawsuit by one of my opponents. They actually engaged a lawyer and went into the school and threatened the principal with civil action, legal action. I thought that was rather instructive, not only the fear but also their saying publicly, I don't want young people influencing us. That triggered my view that maybe we do. We have polls coming out of everywhere in the last 48 or 72 hours of a federal election. We have no restrictions on people being inundated, sometimes with truthful polls, whatever that is, or sometimes with outright push polls that are lies.

Why not release student results earlier? Why not release that student vote earlier?

[Taylor Gunn]

It's for the same reason we don't make the kids vote online. It's because everyone thinks it would be easier, but it's not our process. We're trying to teach kids the current process. If you vote at an advance poll, which usually is what our Student Vote schools do—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, they all vote before the election date typically?

[Taylor Gunn]

Yes, and we emphasize as firmly as we can not to release the results, or we'll never get support from Elections Canada again. There are still a few schools that do, but it's not what happens in advance polls if you go to vote. We're trying to mimic the identical process, and I don't know if we'd be successful in engaging non-partisan election agency support if we did release those results in advance, because that would typically predict the winner.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I have a broader question, and it's perhaps for the three of you. We're about to go out to consult with the public, and there's some debate as to whether we should ask about values only, or if we could eventually get to the point of asking about choices, which is what this committee eventually will face as we report to government. Pick a model and place some things as more important than others: proportionality, direct representation, all these things are waiting.

How important do you think it is for this committee, as we engage with the public, to put the options that we will face as committee members, and hearing all this testimony, in front of the public with young people or older people, regardless?

I don't know if, Jane, you want to start and we'll go across the table?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We only have 30 seconds, so be quick.

[Jane Hilderman]

As an organization interested in helping inform the public about how they can participate, it's helpful to have a more narrow set of menu options to explain than it is to have a broad, full system.

[Dominic Vézina]

As we mentioned a little earlier, INM's mission really is to encourage citizens to participate in the conversation and in societal issues. I believe that this must be done. Consultations will be held in the near future in the ridings. That also provides good leverage. In my opinion, you should consider as many opinions as possible on this matter.

However, I still want to tell you that the secret to all of this is education. People have to be informed so that they have the relevant information, which lets them make the best possible suggestions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Be brief, please.

[Taylor Gunn]

Yes. Values are great. That will make the conversation simpler. Where it will become complicated and probably more substantial is when you start to attach those values to specific examples of electoral systems.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I'm also trying to curry favour by asking a limited suite of questions.

Taylor, you started in Ontario, but now your greatest penetration is in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. This got me thinking that there'd be different layers of ability to get into. I wanted to ask about your ability to get into schools in aboriginal communities and whether you've had good success there or not?

[Taylor Gunn]

We developed a program that targets communities like reserves specifically, and it's partly because we continue to go after all schools. We also know that many urban schools—and I'll try to keep this short—such as in Winnipeg or Calgary may not be like an on-reserve school, but they have as big an indigenous population. We continue to think it's most efficient to go after all schools. We may change that in the future, but for now we haven't targeted them specifically, nor have we targeted any type of school.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

The reason I ask that question is that it seems to me that where your program is most likely to be effective is with individual families, for example, or sectors, that have not had a history of participating in voting. If parents are already doing it, then I think there is a lesser need for the program among their kids as a way of jump-starting them. We know there's a lower rate of participation among aboriginal people than among the population as a whole. That's the reason for the question.

[Taylor Gunn]

One of the best stories that, and it was near you.... You don't have Smith Falls in your district, do you?

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

That is my riding, yes.

[Taylor Gunn]

I think there's an ESL school, or it's a school for those who are older and out of school and didn't go to high school, but can come back.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

TR Leger school.

[Taylor Gunn]

Yes, I think that's it. There was a pair of young indigenous women who went back to school. They practised Student Vote at that school, and then they voted for the first time in the real election—and maybe the first time in their family, albeit I shouldn't say that, because I don't know—because they were confident enough through practising in Student Vote.

Then another thing we hear from teachers, and from parents via the parent-teacher interviews, is that any parents will admit that they didn't vote, but their child's either inspiration or shame forced them to participate in that election. Many parents even admitted that they felt they'd learned more about the election from their kids than from any other source.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We'll close with Mr. DeCourcey.