Thanks so much for having me back. I was here about 4,500 days ago, 12 years, when there was a bill that was put forward that would have had the unintended consequence of disempowering Elections Canada from participating in civic education activities for elementary and secondary school students.
I had a really positive experience at the committee. You were clear-headed. You shared similar concerns with me and others, and an amendment was made, so thank you. Because of that, I trust this institution, and I admire your work. I wonder whether, on rainy days here at PROC, members would like something good to put in their pockets. I wanted to give you something tangible that at least came out of that work that you did with us and others.
I want to let you know that, after that change, Elections Canada was able to support what you might know as the student vote parallel election program a year later. This relates to all the witness testimony that's taken place so far on your topic. There were 7,600 schools that registered, and 920,000 Canadians under the voting age cast a student vote ballot. In 2019, just under 10,000 schools registered, and 1.2 million students cast a student vote ballot. In 2021, there were 7,600 schools, with 810,000 students who cast a student vote ballot in the third week of September, which was about the worst time to do anything in schools.