There are two enormous ridings in Quebec. The whole area from Sept-Îles to Newfoundland is one immense riding. I'm from Charlevoix and I've known that area for a very long time. So I can say that, at the time, the members travelled there once a year, whereas today, with modern communications, there are resource people everywhere.
However, Quebec's high north poses a lot of problems. People intervened a lot. Aboriginal people live all over this part attached to the base. It wasn't easy, but I believe that, by complying with the rules of the act, we succeeded in ensuring that people felt represented, rather than excluded. They made good presentations and we worked on that.
With regard to your remark about the number of voters per riding, Mr. Massicotte, a political scientist from Montreal like Mr. Dion, for example, wrote an article in the newspaper stating that that was the first time the ridings had been represented in such an egalitarian manner. That's what we tried to do and that's what the commissions should do because that's the very basis of the Constitution. We tried to do the same thing. I think we managed to do it, even with the constraints.
People from the Magdalen Islands came to ask us for a riding. If we gave one to the Magdalen Islands, should we also give one to Île-d'Orléans? Some things are possible, others not. We had to stick to the standards and we took the time to see what had happened in the past. We got into the habit of joining certain places together, but that wasn't done because we couldn't do it.
You're surprised when a Bloc Québécois member who was more or less opposed to everything, congratulates you because you combined such and such a riding with another one. I simply told people who wanted to engage in politics that we weren't doing that and that we were merely implementing the act. We're required to apply it; we don't have a choice. A judge chairs the commission so there will be a certain amount of independence. I must tell you that, during the whole time I was there, no one tried to ask me anything out of line. In any case, I would have refused, efficiently and with great pleasure as well. We received briefs, and we read them all. Everything was done and everything was noted.
I must add that the chief electoral officer provides a geographer to every commission. That was the first time that we could see what we were doing, thanks to a special piece of software. That will be available for the next commission, and it was an enormous asset. With the trends, with the census, we had everything in hand. As soon as we needed a piece of information, we requested it. We asked the people who deal with names in Canada for their authorization because we didn't want to come up with incongruous things. I believe that's the job. It is indeed an independent commission but one that makes use of the services that are offered.