Yes, I would fully agree with that. I do think that in terms of the academic literature, I honestly cannot really point to anything I know that specifically deals with comparing Canada to other systems and trying to compare the statistics on voter turnout from abroad. Certainly, there's a big space there to be filled, and it would be wonderful to have some new data.
In terms of why the turnout was so low, I would say that exactly the parliamentary system is part of it. It is in many ways the beauty of the system that elections can be called relatively quickly, but what that essentially means, especially with voting by post, is that you may not receive the ballot in time to then mail it back. Mine was an example of that. I tried very hard to get it there overnight, but whether it arrived or not is another story.
I think that quick turnaround also increases the incidence of not getting timely information about elections. I am in a different position, because I pay attention. If I am a Canadian who isn't in the political space, and I know that there is a talk about election but I'm not really sure when it's happening, and then all of a sudden it's called, by the time I look up from my day-to-day life, I realize it's over.
If you have these quick turnarounds, then, that's great in many other respects, but in terms of actually having the administrative ability to tell everybody, especially those abroad, and to then mail the ballots back and forth, that really creates a huge challenge.