How much more could people take?
No, it does bring us right back to the core issue, which is once again is the government going to allow Canadians to have their say or not?
I was going to mention earlier, and this is probably my best chance to do it, that we're always assuming here, at least the government is, that everything could be done here from Ottawa. All we have to do is Skype people in and electronics will do everything. Yet one of the dilemmas we have is that access to the voting system is not available to everyone in the same way. This idea to just go over to your local video conferencing centre and you can hook up with the committee, or just go ahead and use your Skype application and you'll be fine, that just underscores how little the government is willing to think about Canadians who don't live in those kinds of places like downtown Ottawa.
Some of the first nations reserves—I don't know how often government members go there, I'm assuming they do—you only have to go there once, like these other places I mention, and you realize that things are done differently for cultural reasons, geographical reasons, historical reasons, and all kinds of reasons.
But a Skype presentation, should we have one, from one person is not going to reflect the challenges, not in a way that this committee could truly understand, embrace, and then interpret the new changes to the election laws to determine whether that helps or hinders those Canadians from voting.
The government contends for the most part, tough. Tough luck. Too bad. They're just going to stay right here. They're going to stay right here hiding in plain sight and afraid to go out and listen to Canadians tell them what they think about their bill.
There's a lot of focus on vouching and other issues, Mr. Chair, and I know that this is not the time for those debates. I respect that. I think it is fair, however, to at least mention the fact that vouching affects people differently depending on where they live. Those 120,000 Canadians who have been identified as using the vouching system are worried that they're at risk of losing their franchise.
How many struggles have we had in this country over the decades for the right to vote? Going way back—and not being a learned person myself and being in the presence of Mr. Reid who is, I watch for him to see if I am stepping into grounds that are making me look foolish—it started with nobility getting a vote, and as parliamentary democracy took hold then moved on to landowners. Eventually the struggle was passed and ordinary men got the vote. Then it took how many more decades of fighting and struggling before women were allowed the vote?
I think, Mr. Reid—and I defer to you, sir—that aboriginal women would be among—