I have a comment first of all. There's something in addition to just the amount of work that we have to do for our constituents. There's also their accessibility to us.
I come from a riding that has the fourth most diverse makeup in the country, or maybe the fifth now. I'm constantly surprised at how the constituents of mine who weren't born here—those who grew up in other countries—are amazed by how accessible their MPs are.
If we grow the ridings to an extent where that accessibility drops dramatically.... I have about 120,000 constituents in my riding, but when you move up into the 160,000 or 170,000 or 180,000 range, your availability to individual constituents drops off dramatically. It's just inevitable. I remember trying one night to go to five different events. You can't do that, and that's the kind of demand on your time that would be increasing.
That's my comment. Now a question....
Professor Carty, I'll go to you first. If I understand you, you're saying that you would drop this bill completely and fix the number of seats to a maximum number. Would you lower the number of seats? That's my first question.
What formula would you use to deal with those ridings in the territories where there's a small population in a large geographic area? What formula would you use for the exemptions, if you would allow for exemptions?