I would wholeheartedly agree with anything that parliamentarians do in the public education of our democratic process. Like most electoral agencies across the country, the most difficult demographic group that we try to get out to vote is the 18- to 24-year-olds. Those numbers still are lagging in the 30 to 35 percentile. Statistically, and academia research has shown, if we get someone to vote when they're 18, they're likely voting for life. If we miss them, then we're likely not seeing them until they're 30. That's a challenge for us. Elections Canada and Elections Ontario have a joint program for the grade 5 and grade 10 curriculum that we provide in Ontario that is advocating for democracy. It's a curriculum-based set of lesson plans that we built. Over 3,000 teachers in Ontario use them.
We are also advocating in Ontario—and I would also suggest that my federal counterpart should advocate the same thing—that Parliament consider authorizing the preregistration of 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds so we can begin to engage with them prior to them reaching the voting age so they understand their rights as Canadians, they understand the electoral process, and they can engage right away at 18.