Thank you all for being here.
I want to concentrate my observations and questions again on students voting, young people voting. We have heard from many of our witnesses the fact that some students just don't have the required identification and that's a justification in the minds of many of our witnesses to continue vouching and use of voter information cards as proper ID when confirming addresses.
I would point out to all of you, and in particular to members of this committee, that I've been a member of PROC for 10 years now, and I recall back in 2006 we had a very lengthy discussion about the use of vouching and voter information cards, and almost all—not all, but almost all—members of the committee, and particularly the Liberals, at that time were adamant in their belief that voter information cards should not be used. The national director of the Liberal Party, Mr. MacKinnon, came here and said that there should be proper ID, that vouching should not be allowed, that voter information cards should not be allowed. So it's interesting to see particularly how the Liberals have changed their tune when it's politically convenient.
My point is simply this. As you know and as you've testified, there are 39 current pieces of identification that could be used to verify who you are and where you live. That list of 39 has been developed by Elections Canada, not by the government. We're not the ones saying that these are the 39 pieces that we've come up with so you should be able to satisfy the requirements on identification.
Since it is something that Elections Canada has developed, has your organization considered sending a letter to Elections Canada suggesting additional forms of identification that might be able to capture those people who, perhaps on the student side, are falling through the cracks right now? As in 2006, our contention is that the sanctity of vote is extremely important, just as important as it is the right of every Canadian to exercise his or her franchise.
I'm looking to see if we can find a way to get both of those competing elements, it seems at times, together. Would you undertake to do some research and perhaps make recommendations to Elections Canada to expand the list of 39 eligible pieces of identification?