I don't think the committee wants to go that far.
Evidence of meeting #35 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 young.
Evidence of meeting #35 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 young.
2:05 p.m.
Bloc
2:05 p.m.
Director, Quebec Community Groups Network
I don't know if you have reached that point.
2:05 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Ms. Loutfi, I don't know your group, Apathy is Boring. You are present in Montreal and throughout Quebec. How many members do you have, and in how many institutions?
2:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Apathy is Boring
We launched our group in 2004. We conduct activities throughout the country. We are more present in anglophone communities, but we are based in Montreal. So we are present there as well.
We have seven full-time members on our team and hundreds of volunteers. We have a board of directors, and quite a vast network. During the last federal election, we were able to reach 3 million people because we worked with several partner organizations.
2:05 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
In other cities, a lot of representatives from Fair Vote Canada came to meetings. Are you in touch with them?
2:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Apathy is Boring
No. We are a non-partisan organization. We think this is important; we feel there is not enough really neutral information being provided to young people. In fact, we work quite a bit with Elections Canada because we are non-partisan.
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank all my colleagues for being back with us this Monday morning so that we can spend another week together.
I thank the witnesses and all of the people here. On behalf of my anglophone, Acadian and Brayon colleagues, and newly arrived New Brunswickers, I thank you very much for your welcome here in Montreal.
I'll begin with Mr. Dobie and Mr. Thompson.
Clearly, you've indicated to us that you feel there's inadequate consultation going on around this process, both because there's no specific alternative to present yet to Canadians, and the oversight of minority language communities is not mentioned as part of our mandate.
Do you have any advice on how you would recommend our process unfold, should we come to a specific recommendation about an alternative system to present to Canadians?
2:05 p.m.
Director, Policy, Research and Public Affairs, Quebec Community Groups Network
In the preparation of our brief, we looked at the only place we could turn to in Canadian law that defines the word “consult”. That's in the duty of the federal government to consult with aboriginal communities. We looked at the framework around the consultation. When you consult, you have something specific that you anticipate, that a specific course of action will impact the targeted community. You will provide the community with your assessment of those impacts. The purpose of that discussion or that consultation is to arrive at some sort of mediated solution. That seams reasonable to us.
Following the arrival of an agreement, consensus within the committee on a specific system, we would expect that Canada's official language minority communities, us included, would be approached by government with an analysis of how this system might impact our linguistic rights writ large in the widest possible way. We would then be engaged in a conversation on how to mitigate those risks. That would be the process we would envision.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
In terms of disadvantaged groups, as far as their engagement with the voting system goes, do you feel that minority language communities are currently disadvantaged in the way they can access their right to franchise?
2:10 p.m.
Director, Policy, Research and Public Affairs, Quebec Community Groups Network
We would answer from our perspective. I think you're specific question is, do we feel disenfranchised from the political system?
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
2:10 p.m.
Director, Policy, Research and Public Affairs, Quebec Community Groups Network
I don't think so.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
No, okay.
Maybe that's where the difference is in views of who may have historically been disadvantaged in their ability to exercise their right to franchise. I certainly take the point as something that should be considered in our deliberations.
Ms. Loutfi, your point about there being a much larger context involved in engaging young people is well-taken by me, and I assume other members around the table. We've heard plenty of different testimony to suggest there's no direct correlation between an electoral voting system and enhanced voter engagement.
The best evidence that I can recall is that of André Blais, who suggested proportional representation may help increase voter turnout by upwards of 3% to 5%, but that in itself is not a clear correlation.
There are aspects of style and system of governance, political leadership, and political culture all around that. I understand there's a much more complex web for us to take into consideration when trying to build that legitimacy through greater participation.
I want to ask you about a statement on your website. One of the bullets in your youth-friendly workshop overview asked us to consider why outreach is a dirty word. We use the word “outreach” a lot. Why is it a dirty word?
2:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Apathy is Boring
For us, it's not about going to see young people and talking at them, it's about actually engaging in a conversation with them. When many people think about outreach, they think we're going to push our message onto them. That's not how we operate. It's really about creating a safe space, and inviting them to engage in a conversation with us in places where they feel comfortable, and meeting with us on their territory.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
How many young people is your organization actively engaging with?
2:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Apathy is Boring
It depends on how you define “actively”.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
I mean right now, in this whole conversation on electoral reform. Are you in a position to work with young people and to provide them with some basic knowledge of the different forms of voting systems and the values reflected in those different systems?
2:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Apathy is Boring
Yes, we work on different projects in different campaigns. For example, we've been working with Elections Alberta for four years, which is incredible. Through that, we're reaching hundreds of young people through partnerships with community organizations. They have a mission to bring information to young Albertans, specifically 18- to 25-year-olds who are not in school. We develop projects around those objectives, and then we go get those young people. We do the same during federal elections. We work with Elections Canada, for example, to do that. To run a project or a program around this conversation, for example, we would need resources to do so.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
Does your organization have any view on voting age, whether 18 is the proper point of entry or 15-year-olds can—
2:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Apathy is Boring
Okay. We don't have a formal stance on lowering the voting age, but we do recognize that if we lowered the voting age to an age when youth are still supported by an education system like high school, for example, it would be easier to access them and instil this habit of voting among them. I echo some of what Civix and Samara shared on their panel.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Thank you.
Mr. Nater, welcome to the committee. It's nice to have you here today. I hope you will find our discussions interesting.
2:10 p.m.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Absolutely. It's great to be here.
I want to start with a line of questioning for Mr. Thompson and Mr. Dobie on official languages. When I'm back in Ottawa I usually sit on the official languages committee and I do think there's an important element here from the official languages standpoint.
I want to go back a little bit, Mr. Dobie, to your response to a question from Ms. Romanado, I believe. You mentioned something about the connection to community. Could you expand a little bit on how important it is to have that connection to community, a connection to a language community, especially as it relates to the electoral system and having a representative serve a specific geographic area?