Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank the Elections Canada team for once again appearing before the committee. Given the bills that we will be studying, I imagine that we will have the opportunity to meet with you often over the upcoming weeks and months.
Mr. Mayrand, I think that all parliamentarians around this table, and indeed the majority of Canadians, would agree that if the objective of this bill is to facilitate voting, then so much the better. After all, who would oppose a noble cause? However, as the saying goes, too much of a good thing can spoil everything.
To my mind, the current federal voting system is extremely flexible. Take for example voting by special ballot and postal voting. We already have three advance polling days in addition to polling day itself, yet still people are seeking to add two more. If we carry on down this track, we will soon find ourselves with 36 polling days.
We have to be certain, and I am not, as yet, that such a measure will result in increased voter turn-out. When the minister appeared before the committee, we asked whether studies showed a correlative increase in voter turnout. He mentioned a number of studies from other countries that showed that allowing people to vote on Sundays increased turnout by 10%. He also mentioned a poll carried out by Elections Canada in 2003. This is something that I would like you to discuss with us at greater length. As you have provided us with a working paper on voter turnout today, I was wondering whether you had carried out any additional work on the subject. After all, although facilitating voting may result in an increase in voter turnout, the difference may be negligible. I would like to hear your viewpoint on this matter.
In addition, I would like to know whether you can provide us with a daily breakdown of voter turnout statistics for advance polling days—in other words, how many people choose to vote on a Friday, a Saturday and a Monday. At the moment, we assume, for example, that people will be more inclined to vote on a Sunday than a Saturday, for example.
Lastly, I would like to discuss my concerns about recruiting election officers. As far as I understand, this is a bigger and bigger challenge with each passing election. I'm not talking about our volunteers, I'm talking about paid electoral officers. We have just had three by-elections in Quebec, and our three returning officers struggled to fill the positions. We need people to work four, five or six days over approximately a week. I am very worried about this situation.