Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Among the people I know, there are some survey analysts. They are seasoned analysts, people who have experience and are retired. They tell me that Canadian attitudes seem to have changed over the past ten years. In the beginning of the 2000s and until 2010, they could predict people's voting intentions during electoral campaigns relatively reliably. Things changed slowly, that is to say less than 0.25% per day and sometimes they only moved by 0.1 or 0.2% a day.
These analysts now say, however, that since 2011, things fluctuate very quickly. Sometimes, over four or five days, you can see voting intentions change by 0.5% to 0.7% or even 1%. They tell me that that is no doubt due to the quick circulation of information today, and perhaps even to the impact of fake news, especially during the last 10 days of an election campaign, when there is no time left to react to fake news that may have an impact. The authors of that fake news probably target the undecided vote, and since things are circulated on Facebook, this reaches the entire population. Those who have made up their minds probably pay no attention. However, those who have not yet made a decision will pay particular attention to the most recent news sent by a political party or a third party discussing a position or an issue that could influence their voting intentions.
Historically, the media have been somewhat ethical in their treatment of fake news and did not publish it. Traditional media such as newspapers, television and radio generally did not publish or broadcast news they had not checked. However, on Facebook, it is impossible to check the information and it is possible to put out just about any news about anyone. During an election campaign, those rumours find their way around.
Do you think it is possible to find a way of regulating this more quickly a few days before an election, if we notice that a piece of fake news may impact voters' intentions?