No, it will not be mine. My colleague says that it will be mine, but this is not the case. My new riding will be called Haute-Gaspésie—La-Mitis—Matapédia—Matane. However, I am talking about the next riding, which is now represented, unfortunately, by a member of the government party. I think that, in the next election, it should be represented by a member of the Bloc Quebecois if people want to have real representation.
Let us go back to the bill at hand. There is something else about the electoral boundaries readjustment that I cannot agree with. It is that the number of members of Parliament is constantly being increased. As one of my colleagues mentioned earlier, we went from 294 members in 1993 to 301 members and we will now have 308.
Unfortunately, Quebec only has 75 ridings. This means that the demographic weight, that is the number of members in the House of Commons who will represent Quebec, will constantly decrease. I think this is totally dangerous for democracy.
Let us remember our history. Quebec is the place where Canada was born, with Acadia, among others. At the time of the Constitution, Quebec was perhaps the most important province.
Of course, I am a sovereignist and I want to see Quebec become a country. Unfortunately, as long as the people of Quebec do not make the final decision, we will have to continue to represent them in the House of Commons. I say unfortunately, because, like any good sovereignist, we are anxious to get out, to go back home and to build a real country.
Once again, we will find ourselves increasingly in a minority position in this country. We realize, as we sit here, that this Parliament is less and less democratic and that it exercises democracy in a hidden manner. We see what is happening in the Liberal Party now, with the arrival of a new leader. He maintained that more powers had to be given to Parliament and members. However, the government is giving him carte blanche to call an election as soon as possible.
I remind the House that, in this country, elections are normally called every five years, and this is how it should always be. Since 1993, there have been elections every three and a half years.
Why have we had elections every three and a half years? We have had an election every three and a half years because those who have the power are using it for themselves and not for the public. With this bill, we can see that someone wants to give the future prime minister an opportunity to call an early election. I think that is unacceptable, because, in the end, it is a political game that negates democracy.
We should only have elections every five years, which would be normal in a democracy. A difference of five or six months is not a problem for me. But there have been differences of a year and a half and nearly two years since 1993, and that is completely unacceptable, since it is the people who pay for these elections, through their taxes. Obviously, it does not necessarily correspond with the wishes of the public. It corresponds with the desire of one individual who wants to leave himself an opening to move toward what he thinks is the possible reelection of the Liberal Party. On that score, I have my doubts about his reelection and whether or not he can win the next election.
We believe that the bill before us is anti-democratic and shows no respect at all for this process, which should be entirely open and in which no political party should have the right to interfere. In my opinion, only Parliament has the right to change the law, and it should be done without political interference. Once a bill is presented, of course, Parliament can have its say. Parliament is having its say right now, but of course, we know that the fix is in, since this government has been governing in secrecy for a good many years.
Therefore, we support the electoral redistribution process. We agree that there should be commissions that are truly independent. Several hon. members have told us about incidents in their ridings. They have doubts about the independence of the commissions, but that is another issue. It seems that the appointment process could be called into question in some cases.
Nevertheless. the commissions are independent bodies and they do manage to make some proposals that reflect the wishes of the population, but obviously this is not the case in Quebec. Seeing what has happened all the way from the Atlantic coast to the Ontario border, nearly all electoral districts in Quebec have been disturbed, changed. As my colleague from Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques has just pointed out, people no longer know what the boundaries of their federal riding are.
As I said to my colleague from Champlain, if one asks people what the present boundaries of the electoral district of Matapédia—Matane are, for example, and what they will be for the next election campaign, few of them will be able to say. Apart from their MP and his staff, not many will know the answer.
I was talking recently with the mayor of Mont-Joli about the new name of Matapédia—Matane. The regional municipality of La Mitis was included in it, and the Haute-Gaspésie region, of course, but he did not know—and this is a person who has been in municipal politics for years and knows what is going on—that the regional municipality of Haute-Gaspésie was part of the riding of Matapédia—Matane. This is in fact such a huge riding that people have trouble imagining how much territory it covers.
As I have already said, I am sure that if my colleagues did a poll tomorrow morning to find out if people knew the boundaries of their riding, very few could give the answer. Maybe 4% or 5%, if that. This shows the democratic deficit.
As for the matter of moving the effective date of the bill up six months, that is moving it from August 2004 to April 2004, I feel that this is not allowing people enough time to become familiar with their riding boundaries. They are also not being given enough time to prepare for the next election campaign. They are being bulldozed, being told “This is the area you are going to have to deal with. What the outcome will be is no big deal, because in the end democracy has no importance. It is not important whether you know what riding you belong to or not.” This is a totally abnormal way of doing things.
Another aspect that I want to discuss is the number of people who actually go to the polls to exercise their right to vote, particularly in a federal election. Indeed, the number of voters is constantly dwindling. First, there is a fundamental problem with the list of electors, and it should be corrected. The government and all the political parties should deal with this issue.
Since we have stopped conducting a census of electors when an election is called, we have lost a large number of voters. There used to be a census when an election was called. Today, people can register on the list of electors on their tax return, if they wish to do so. Those who are not registered when the election is called must do so, but they have much less time to do so than before.
Members will remember that, a few years ago, the election period was 50 days or more. Today, it is 33 days or less. That does not leave much time for a voter to register. Those who are not on the list must consult and phone. The last time, at the beginning of the election campaign, the 1-800 number was always busy. It was extremely difficult for people to get on the list of electors. I think that this is food for thought. A census at the beginning of an election campaign had the advantage of enabling us to make people aware that an election had been called and that they should exercise their right to vote.
That system, which raised awareness about the election campaign in a non-partisan way, no longer exists. This was done in a totally non-partisan way since the census was conducted by two people, one from the governing party and the other from the party that had received the second largest number of votes in the riding. It was an effective way to motivate people, to go to see them in their homes, to tell them that an election was going to take place and that they should exercise their right to vote. It was done in a non-partisan way since the census was conducted by two people.
We ought to ask ourselves some questions because they have put an end to this way of doing things, supposedly to save money. However, is it not fundamental in a democracy that people should be able to exercise their right to vote and that we should invest a little more in the system to make people more aware and ready for an election?
Last week, my colleague, the member for Champlain, and I met with older people from my riding of Matapédia—Matane. This was an exceptionally good meeting, and I would like to thank him for that. We have asked these people if they were having their names put on the voters list when they filed their income tax return. There is a question on the first page of the form that says, “Elections Canada: Do you wish to have your name added to the National Register of Electors”?
Very few people take the time to complete this section and register, because they think that it is when an election is called that people have to have their name put on the voters' list.
I therefore think that we created a democratic deficit when we stopped the practice of conducting a census at the beginning of an election campaign, giving a list to the political parties instead. During an election campaign, each returning officer has to give a list to all political parties.
Incomplete lists were given out and today political parties are asked to revise the lists and to make sure that every voter is on it. Of course each political party is trying to register the people that it thinks will be voting for it. This is really not very acceptable in a democracy.
This process should therefore be revised and the bill amended. Otherwise, we should revert to the census taken just before the election to make people more aware and to allow them to truly participate in the election campaign.