Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank our guests for being here this morning.
Mr. Blanchet, the committee's study is in response to the recommendation by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Mr. Mayrand, that the federal Referendum Act be modernized. One of the reasons for doing this is that he sees a major difference between how the Elections Act and the Referendum Act are administered. So when the two may apply at the same time, it creates a problem.
If I understood correctly, you said that the appendix that governs referendums, in Quebec's Referendum Act, is updated every time the Election Act is amended. So it has been aligned fairly rigorously, up to 2006, when debate began in the National Assembly about reforming the electoral system.
Could you tell us what the benefits would be of aligning the federal Elections Act and the federal Referendum Act as far as possible?