Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 9th, 2017

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

No, the all-in cost. We knew the contract to Vox Pop, but we were waiting for the all-in cost from the last time we talked.

[Ian McCowan]

In terms of electoral reform writ large, I think it's in the order of about $3.8 million when you add in staff, contract, the mail out from Canada Post, and the minister's tour. If it would be helpful to the committee, we could provide a detailed breakdown of the costs that have been spent on electoral reform.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Okay, that would be very helpful.

Minister, do you think that exercise was a success? I'm referring to the MyDemocracy.ca part of the government's outreach?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Well, first of all, I want to thank David for his comments.

I am looking forward to working with this whole committee moving forward, and I hope that we do. I recognize that you have lots of work ahead of you and I know you have big tasks, but I also have confidence in the ability of all members of this committee to get through all of that. I'm looking forward to doing this together.

With regard to MyDemocracy.ca, I do think it was a worthwhile exercise. The fact there were 380,000 Canadians, roughly speaking, who participated was quite good. It's the largest participation in a consultation the government has had.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Was there a specific answer or result you got from that survey that led to your government's conclusion to abandon the electoral reform commitment? Was there was some way that Canadians answered or didn't answer a question that led you to conclude from your consultation that we shouldn't go ahead with electoral reform?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

The decision was made based on all of the many different pieces of the consultation and the work—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

But nothing in particular?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

—that went into the past year of engagement with Canadians.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

When did you get your mandate letter from the Prime Minister?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

My mandate letter was made public on February 1.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

When did you receive it?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

My mandate letter was made public on February 1.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Okay, I just want to know when you received it. I know when it was made public. I was there.

Did you receive it on February 1?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

My mandate letter was made public on February 1.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Okay.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

You can ask it many more times. That's when it was made public.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I know, and you can not answer it many more times. That seems strange because the receipt of a letter doesn't exactly require the confidentiality of a state secret.

All I'm asking is when you received your letter. It's not a challenging question.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

And I'm responding that it was made public on February 1.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Okay.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Oh, oh!

There you go.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Now, regarding transparency, you watched the young women in the House, the Daughters of the Vote. Did you hear Chelsea Montgomery's question for the Prime Minister?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I heard all the questions.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I'll quote it for you, just to refresh all of our memories: “Instead of waiting until 2090—that's the year it would take if we keep on the path that we're on right now to see gender parity in this House—what commitments are you making and what is the plan to go forward?”

There was some notion that we had had some great improvement, in terms of the results for women, from the last election to this election. Their representation in the House went up by 1%. The percentage of men in the House of Commons is still around 75%.

Chelsea's question for the Prime Minister was very direct. He chose not to answer it in specific terms.

We had put before the House, previously, the way parties are reimbursed for their election expenses if they nominate more women. Are you in favour of such a proposal?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I'm looking forward to hearing the committee's recommendations. I think there are many different innovative ways that we can encourage women's participation in politics.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Can you remind me? I was trying to look it up before this committee meeting. There was a bill in Parliament. Do you recall if you voted for it or not?