Thank you for your question. I wrote this in December. I think that what has happened, what has transpired, is very good. I like the composition of this committee. I think you've set very high objectives. You have a good budget to get the job done. My only worry is that the kind of people who come to these meetings are likely to be convinced that electoral reform is necessary. People who don't think it's necessary are not likely to take the trouble to defend what they think is obvious. That's what I'm saying.
You have to make an effort. It's not easy, and I appreciate all the efforts being made. But you have to seek out as many voices as possible, not just the people who are in favour of electoral reform. Let's be blunt. The people who are in favour of massive electoral reform, of proportional representation or other systems, have been at this for a generation now, 25 years. The people who want to support the system are the silent majority—call them what they are—the people who think the system is actually functioning quite well and really doesn't need very much reform.
I think if you can come up with practical ideas, ideas that are realizable, that are possible, that could be done, you might actually come out of this exercise with something genuinely good. The issue of mandatory voting is an example. Use the opportunity to ask people if they think this is a good idea. I've told you I'm not in favour of it. I don't think it's consistent with our values, but maybe Canadians are in favour. There's a good reason, by the way, why you might want to consider that. The experience of western democracies is that mandatory voting will boost your participation rate by about 8% to 10%.
Canada has an average of about 70% participation rate going back to 1867. That's not bad. It's not great, but it's not bad. If you want to add mandatory voting to that, you can put an extra 8% to 10%. That would bring you up to 80%. Then if you want to vote on Sunday, there are studies that show that Sunday provides you another premium of about 6% or 7%. That's Sunday mostly, but also Saturday. The third most popular day is Monday. When do we vote? We vote on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Try Sunday voting. Ask people; that is my point. Ask people if they would mind voting on a Sunday. It used to be an idea that was received with a great deal of hostility. I think times have changed. Again, with the combination of mandatory voting and Sunday voting, you might be looking at a premium of 10% to 15%. Who knows? All sorts of people have different reasons not to vote, and there are all sorts of variations on that.
Anyway, I think good, practical ideas can actually lead this committee to deliver something that's tangible and applicable quickly.