Democracy fundamentally is about whether or not people are heard. We work with a consultant, Steve Joneslee, who said it very well, and I've never heard someone talk about democracy so succinctly. He said that democracy ultimately is whether we get what we want, and if we don't, do we understand why, and do we think it's fair?
Having the feeling of being heard is so important to being able to accept outcomes when outcomes may not go in your favour. We all know here—you know this better than most—that we can't serve the interests of everyone 100% of the time. We wish, but that's not possible.
However, having procedural fairness is important. I'm a big advocate for the fact that we need to reach across divides to have spaces where people can discuss complexity, and to come to realize, as I think Mr. MacLeod mentioned in his testimony, that when we bring people together over time, people realize they have a lot more in common than the things that divide them. I think time together discussing real issues is one of the ways in which we can make progress on complex policy decisions.
Thank you.