I think it's a matter of legitimacy. Looking for a convention may sound very erudite and intellectual. I just think it would be a bad idea to change the electoral system and not have a referendum. It could go down very badly with the Canadian people.
But I think what you have to think about—and I'm sure you have—is the referendum legislation. The Referendum Act we have now will not work. It was designed for the Constitution; it didn't apply to Quebec.
You have to look very carefully at spending rules. You should look at the New Zealand referendum of 1993. Spending rules are absolutely crucial—and whether you're going to have yes and no teams.
A lot of thought has to go into the referendum. If you look at the 1993 referendum in New Zealand—the second one they had, after the 1992 referendum—corporate New Zealand poured millions of dollars into hair-raising ads saying that it would be the end of civilization as you know it, if MMP went through. In the earlier election, the popularity of MMP was 86%, and it fell to 53% with unlimited spending by corporate New Zealand.