Electoral Reform Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you very much.

Go ahead, Ms. May.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to congratulate the witnesses for their presentations. I would particularly like to congratulate young Mr. Mireault. He did an incredible job with the issues and challenges that members around this table are dealing with.

Really, you are highly informed and committed; you are very much in tune with the questions that affect our democracy.

Here is my question. In your opinion, what is the level of interest among the young people in your group, or people in general, for democracy and electoral reform? Which questions about electoral reform are Canada's young people asking?

[Fred-William Mireault]

In terms of electoral reform, I presented the basics of what we want. Of course, we came to that decision after holding a round table, a group that brought together members of our Regroupement's board of directors and other young people from the CÉGEP. Of course, we are going to continue to consult our members at a general meeting to make sure we have the most accurate point of view.

In general, young people want changes to the voting system. They feel that the first past the post system is not representative enough and that, as I said, it does not encourage participation in elections. In our opinion, proportional representation is an interesting approach.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

That's great.

You did not comment about the voting age.

In your opinion, should the voting age go from 18 to 16?

[Fred-William Mireault]

I will give you my personal opinion as an answer because I have not consulted the members of the Regroupement about it.

I personally would support the voting age going to 16, providing, of course, that the provinces were to reform the education system in order to provide a more complete course in civics or politics.

In my opinion, it would be advantageous to allow voting at 16.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Excellent.

Ms. Perreault, when you talked about seniors and their access to the polls, you mentioned verification problems. Are we talking about problems that existed before the Fair Elections Act was passed, Bill C-24? Were there problems before that, or only afterwards?

[Danielle Perreault]

I can't answer that question because our organization did not really discuss the matter.

However, access is an important issue for us, certainly.

Perhaps if you phrase your question differently, I could give you a better answer.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

I am sorry about my mistakes in French.

[Danielle Perreault]

You are doing very well.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you. I am doing my best.

If we are to have a real democracy in Canada, it seems really important to me that there be a dialogue between the generations that your two groups are representing here.

Do you have any other creative ideas for strengthening the relationship between old and young? In my opinion, because of the workplace, our society makes a separation between places where seniors get together and places where young people are educated.

I'm wondering if there's a way to create more relationships in learning about democracy between our elders and our youth. Since you're both here, do you have any thoughts on that?

[Danielle Perreault]

For the next consultations, I will perhaps invite Mr. Mireault to invite the Réseau FADOQ, so that we can discuss the issue together. That could be really interesting.

[Fred-William Mireault]

At our next general meeting, we could invite the seniors' representatives, and, in turn, young people could talk to the Réseau FADOQ.

The young and the old have different interests, but they are complementary. So it could be interesting to work together, especially on electoral reform, a subject that affects us all.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Your turn, Mrs. Romanado.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you very much.

My thanks again to the members of the public who are always in the room, including those who are just arriving.

My thanks also to the witnesses.

Honestly, I think all parties, even the Réseau FADOQ, are going to be trying to recruit Mr. Mireault. In three years, we certainly are going to talk.

Thank you very much, everyone. Your comments give us an idea of all the challenges that our voters and our fellow citizens are facing during elections.

Ms. Perreault, I did not know that there were problems with identification cards. During your testimony, I checked the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. I did not know that the cards issued by the Régie to people when they reach the age of 75 no longer contain photos. I now understand why seniors sometimes come to polling stations without photo ID. I am grasping the problem better.

In the past, I know that we could bring a voter information card that showed our identity, but I understand that a law was passed that no longer allows us to do that. Is that so?

[Danielle Perreault]

People still have to bring that voter card to confirm that their name is on the list at their designated polling station. However, in terms of the identification that you now have to provide, if you have no driver's licence and if there is no longer a photo on the health insurance card — which is no longer required after the age of 75 — it becomes very complicated. That is why a voter ID card could be a workable solution.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Before I was elected, I always volunteered during the election campaigns and I worked at the polling stations. So I am familiar with the challenges facing those voting.

Furthermore, in the last election campaign, we received a lot of calls from seniors with mobility issues who were asking us whether it was possible to vote from home instead of being given rides to the polling station. Elections Canada received a lot of requests and it was not able to handle all of them.

You mentioned the idea of setting up polling stations in seniors' residences. Do we still have mobile polling stations? Could the administrators of the residences be appointed scrutineers? I'm not sure whether that request has been made.

[Danielle Perreault]

I'm not sure whether the request has been made to residences. These days, residences are big, like micro-societies. All sorts of people live there. So there could be people at the residences who would be certainly interested in becoming scrutineers. I am pretty sure.

Often, thousands of people live in those places. So there is a significant potential for voters. In addition, that would help with the travel of people with reduced mobility. As you know, with aging, mobility often deteriorates. Some residences use minivans to transport seniors. However, if they have 1,000 residents, the minivans cannot transport so many at the same time. So I think having polling areas in residences is an appealing solution.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Mr. Mireault, you mentioned one of the reasons why people don't vote. Sometimes, it's because they think their vote doesn't count.

Let me ask you another question about the non-participation of young people. In your view, what are the barriers preventing young people from running as candidates in elections? We actually want to increase not only the turnout of young people at the polls on election day, but also their engagement in active politics. Some day, we will be older and retire. We need the next generation to take our place. It is equally important to have the voices of young people heard in the House of Commons. What are the barriers preventing young people from running in elections?

[Fred-William Mireault]

I think young people don't run because they are not sufficiently informed about the procedure. They have a lot of information about how to vote, but the process to run for office is still quite long. They are probably not sufficiently educated on the matter. I come back to the need for a citizen participation course. That might be a useful way to solve the problem.

Another barrier is the lack of experience. Many young people don't run for office because they think they are not ready to sit in the House of Commons because of their lack of experience. That is certainly a second barrier. The lack of experience does not help.

I had a third point in mind, but I can't remember it right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

Mr. Maguire.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thank you.

I'm very interested in both of your presentations.

Obviously, I'm within the demographic of your group, Ms. Perreault. But my nephew and his wife had a baby girl last night, so I'm also enthused about what you have to say, Mr. Mireault. I have seven grandchildren of my own, so I'm pretty interested in this whole process. One of them is old enough to vote already.

I appreciate the fact that you've both made your presentations.

Ms. Perreault, I liked your three pillars. You talked about the three pillars with regard to accessibility and well-being of voters, seniors, and that sort of thing, for voting. When you talk about taking the vote to the residences, do you mean individual residences? All of the multiple residences that have seniors living in them already do that in my riding, and as far as I know, across Canada.

[Danielle Perreault]

No. Not all the residences have a mobile polling station. It depends on the size and location of the residences. So that's not the case everywhere. This really prevents people from exercising their right to vote.

If it were possible to set up a mobile station in each of the residences, and I'm not talking about residences with six people, but those with hundreds of seniors, that would truly make the voting process easier. That would be especially useful since the people in those residences often have reduced mobility. Generally, those who live there are 75 or older. So when you and I reach that stage, we will probably like to have a polling station in the residence where we live. So we have to think about that right away.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I'll just reiterate that all of the ones in my riding do at the present time.

Mr. Mireault, my question for you is, when are you going to run?

[Fred-William Mireault]

Yes.