Yes, and I'd like to come back to something I mentioned in my presentation, if I may.
It's important to understand that providing information on where, when and how to vote is simply not enough. The next logical question that needs to be answered is why vote and for who.
Whenever I would talk to a student on campus during the election campaign, I would ask them four questions. The first was whether they were indeed registered to vote, meaning were they on the voters list. The second was whether they were aware they could cast their ballot on campus. Quebec amended its election act to allow students to vote outside their home riding so they can cast their ballot on their school campus. The third was whether they knew who they were going to vote for. They didn't go into panic mode at that point but often replied that they didn't really know. That's where we lose them. I would tell them to decide before election day because if they didn't, they wouldn't go and vote. And the fourth question was whether they could give me a reason that would make them head to the polls.
I know the argument is that the political parties will address that matter. I just experienced an election campaign, and I can tell you the parties aren't doing it because they have too many people to reach out to during the campaign. What's more, it is certainly no secret that youth aren't big supporters of political parties, and as a result, politicians tend to reach out to that demographic less.
At election time, no effort is made to explain the issues to young people in a digestible clear way. But they need access to other tools to guide them in their decision making, especially those voting for the first time. They aren't familiar with the political parties. What they are interested in are the election issues. And those issues are easily usurped by more controversial ones and political attacks amongst the parties. And that's something else that causes young people to tune out and disengage.
We see that element as part of the whole. Young people have to feel a sense of duty when it comes to voting, they have to understand the electoral and political processes, and they have to be interested in politics. And making all that happen will obviously take a lot of work, not just at election time, but all the time.
We believe Canada's Chief Electoral Officer has a role to play in providing that education to the public. As we see it, that's the only way to raise first-time voter turnout and thus overall voter turnout, which is currently at 58%.
The need for action is urgent, in our view. What will voter turnout look like in 10 years if we don't do something about first-time voter turnout now?