That's quite kind of you, Mr. Reid.
Right off the bat, I want to be perfectly frank and make very clear where I come from.
I want to tell you, Ms. Laberge, that I attended Cégep de Rimouski, so I took part in a number of the FECQ's conferences in the early 2000s. I am very familiar with your organization and the work you do to increase the political involvement of young Quebeckers. I think that's extremely important. My own introduction to politics was through student politics, an element that is extremely useful and quite effective.
I very much appreciated your presentation and the four points you outlined. It is said that the main reason young people don't go out to vote is that they don't know where to go. You provided a clarification in that regard, saying it may not necessarily be the real reason. It's an excuse, as you explained so articulately. It is somewhat embarrassing for people to admit they know little about the political system. What's more, young people don't know whether voting is worth the trouble. They aren't engaged in the process. When asked why they didn't vote, they will often say they didn't know where to go. The fact is they could have found the information; they were simply using that as an excuse.
As far as the government's arguments for amending section 18 go, I really have a tough time understanding why the government sees the powers as mutually exclusive. I don't see why the government can't just ask Elections Canada to focus on providing information about when, where and how to vote, while allowing it to continue running programs to encourage Canadians to vote.
Did you have something you'd like to add?