Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Mayrand, thank you for your remarks. I would also like to thank your colleagues for being here today. We are pleased to be able to ask you questions and explore this issue a little further. Indeed, we believe it is extremely important.
In your reports and recommendations, you mentioned some pilot projects you wanted to implement to increase youth engagement in the electoral process. Today, you mentioned once again the possibility of setting up polling stations on university campuses and allowing more youth to work as electoral officials during the campaign and on election day. You know, and I believe the committee also knows, how important youth engagement is for me. It is also very important for the NDP.
We would very much like to collaborate as much as possible with Elections Canada in the context of such initiatives. For this reason, I am advising the committee that I am tabling the following notice of motion:That this committee:a) recognize that reports of the Chief Electoral Officer submitted to Parliament from 2010 onward demonstrate that, if Parliament does not modernize our electoral system in order to engage young Canadians, lower and lower percentages of eligible voters will turn out to vote in future federal elections; and
That this Committee conduct a comprehensive study before December 2013 on potential mechanisms to enhance youth electoral engagement in Canada, with the view to implement such changes before the next federal election, including: modernizing the online voter registration system; ensuring there are polling stations on university and college campuses across the country; recruiting and training more youth to act as elections officers; raising awareness about how and where to vote, especially among mobile college and university students; considering an electronic voting system; considering automatic registration; and removing barriers to pre-registering young people at age 16 as prospective voters, in advance of eligibility to vote at age 18.
Do you think the cuts to Elections Canada's budget will affect your recommendations and pilot projects?