Madam Speaker, I wish to begin by congratulating the hon. member for Verdun—Saint-Henri on his initiative.
I believe he is totally justified in his concern to see our fellow citizens participate fully in selecting those who will govern them. I can therefore understand that he would want to ensure that all those who vote are fully informed.
We believe, however, that there is a problem here. As it stands, we believe the bill confers an unfair advantage on certain categories of candidate.
As the hon. member pointed out in his opening remarks, if all candidates had a photo I believe that the hon. member would receive considerable support, if not unanimity. He would without a doubt have the support of the Bloc Quebecois, because in the ridings we represent we know there are people who cannot read and write, for all manner of reasons related to their particular circumstances, and we must respect that.
Let us take advantage of this excellent initiative by our colleague to pay tribute to our fellow citizens who are involved in this process of learning to read and write. They deserve all our support, for this is not an easy undertaking, we know.
I would encourage the hon. member to consider introducing an amendment, whereby all candidates could have their photo on the ballot. This would, I believe, be of service to democracy and all members of parliament would be grateful to him for this.
It is very important to make sure that our fellow citizens take part in the democratic process. There are a number of countries on this planet where, unfortunately, the right to elect those who govern them is not recognized.
A lot of people in the world would like to be in our shoes in order to be able to regularly, periodically, every four or five years, focus their attention on public life, on public issues and be part of the very important moment of choosing representatives in this democratic institution here of the House of Commons. Obviously, this is a principle we would be able to apply to many institutions.
I believe the member is raising an important point. It is all to his credit, and I thank him for it. I want to remind the House that we are proud, because in Quebec—like me, he is a member from Quebec, and so is his seatmate—we have an extremely deep-rooted democratic tradition. You know that the National Assembly was the first parliament in North America.
Regardless of whether we voted yes or no in the last referendum, we must all rejoice in the fact that over 90% of our fellow citizens exercised their right to vote.
Those in elected office, like the member for Verdun—Saint-Henri, myself and any parliamentarian, would all do well to ensure that people turn out to vote in numbers. There is no doubt that what the member is proposing, that is including the photo with the name of the candidate on the ballot, is an enlightened measure that provides people with the best information possible on the people who are running in an election.
I therefore invite him to consider expanding the scope of the bill. I am sure that I am speaking for my colleagues of the Bloc Quebecois when I say that we will be happy to support such an initiative.