From all the different presentations, I think Professor Cross has given us some food for thought. That definitely is one of the reasons that comes up most often. Say I've been voting for a party, and they only have a couple of seats. I'm a minority among Canadians in my political view, and I want my minority view to be reflected in the House of Commons. However, we don't think about all the collateral changes and what takes effect after going to a PR system.
Professor Cross, you have given some testimony as to the different changes we could potentially see under different systems. Do you feel Canadians' views would be more reflected in a PR system than they are currently? Would people be able to check off at the ballot box and say this is how I feel, this is my political view, and then expect that to translate into policy in the future? Or do you feel the current system whereby parties go in with a clear mandate, and parties either win and form government, or they don't form government. We don't have a tradition of coalitions here in Canada yet. PR systems may create that.
We've had a lot of testimony about how it may create a co-operative environment. Collaboration could be a good thing, but we've also had testimony to say collaboration could end up causing a lot of parties at times to compromise what they value the most. We've had testimony in Nunavut recently where they have a consensus form of government, saying they don't get a lot done. They can't push through a mandate, and we're seeing frustration at the territorial level.
Could you comment a little on what you get as a result?