Mr. Speaker, the hon. member made an interesting point about voter turnout. One of the best elections for voter turnout was the January election, contrary to all predictions that it would be a disaster having an election just after the Christmas season. The evidence would point out that voter turnout, I believe, was up about 4%. That may be just a function of the desire of Canadians to toss out one government and bring in a new one. We could speculate on the reasons why.
Canadians, traditionally, vote on Monday in federal elections. This system has worked well for us. The hon. member knows the House just passed the bill providing for fixed dates for elections and extensive advance polling would take place on the weekend before. The hon. member knows the third Monday in October is Thanksgiving. The bill proposes that the election would be on the fourth Monday. If he worked his way back for the advance polling dates, it would be possible for individuals to go to a polling station on Thanksgiving Day. I do not have a problem with that. To get people out to vote, that would be a very likely weekend when members would be at home in their ridings.
The other advantage of having the fixed dates for elections is that all of us would be able to plan. We all have had constituents say that they would like to vote for us, but they do not know exactly when the election will be held, and nobody is able to tell them. Many of them may be going to Florida, they may be on vacation, they may be visiting their relatives, or they might be out of their constituency, so it is important for them to know.
I hear the hon. member's suggestion, but I think he will agree with me that taken together, these two bills are an improvement over the present situation.