We basically adapted that a little to the current system and to Canadian reality because we have a huge territory. That is why we chose the 66-33 ratio.
In Germany it is 50-50. In Scotland it is about 57-43. We chose a proportion that better reflected our vast territory.
As for the open and closed lists, the four commissioners came from various parts of the country. We wondered if we should decide on that or not. We thought that for the good of the report, we should make a decision and indicate that we were not in favour of a closed list, as this could generate mistrust on the part of citizens toward the political parties, and even lead people to think that the same people could fix the list, and so on. They could either vote for a list and trust the party, or vote for one of the candidates on the list. However, for a candidate to change rankings, he or she had to get at least 8% of the votes.
We did not choose a completely open list, because people pointed out that they would all be from the same party and would be competing fiercely with each other to change positions on the list. So we stopped the debate and presented that system. There is an example in the report. On your ballot, you can vote either for the list as it stands, or to change the list.