Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for being here this morning.
I'd like to go back to the roots of the communication problem.
In an election, candidates have to reach between 90,000 and 110,000 electors in a short period of time, in approximately two months. We, the members, have more time because we are already in our riding. If we want to be fair to everyone, that period lasts a maximum of two months.
It is a big challenge, because it's difficult to reach people. Elections Canada provides us with an address and a name, period.
There are two ways to reach the electors, and that is to go door to door or use their phone number, but there are fewer and fewer landlines. All we can do next is try to find cell phone numbers, which is more or less legal, because those are considered confidential in Canada.
Using digital platforms has become a necessary evil for all future politicians if they want to reach a large number of people in a very short period of time. We have less than a 1,000 hours to reach 100,000 people, and that may not add up to a lot of minutes per person. That could be why targeting becomes very interesting to politicians.
Do you think it would be possible to create legislation for these platforms, so as to restrict access to some information, or give politicians more access to these platforms in order to reach people?
If we can't get the phone numbers, we turn to digital platforms. If politicians had access to cell numbers, they could call people and speak to them to at least have some direct contact.
Currently, we are doing politics through indirect contacts. To reach an elector, we are using machines and artificial intelligence, and that is not the essence of democracy. We aren't electing robots, but members of political parties and a prime minister.
The time we have to reach electors is very limited, and I see a problem there for democracy in the short, medium and long term, and that is the root of the problem. Everything else is related to the lack of time and information.
Should Elections Canada provide us with landline telephone numbers and cell phone numbers?