Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have this opportunity today to question the Minister for Democratic Reform further on his ill-advised process to study Canada's electoral system.
I have several questions for the minister in the very few minutes that are allotted to me.
First, I would like to know why the minister is ignoring the will of this House that adopted recommendations in the 43rd report of the procedure and House affairs committee of the 38th Parliament, including a recommendation to broadly consult with Canadians on the values and principles that they would like to see in our electoral system? Canadians expect their government to be open and accountable, but this government has hijacked the process that was agreed upon in the past.
Second, can the minister explain to us why, after saying he did not want the process taken over by special interest groups, he contracted it out to a special interest group?
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is well known as a right-wing think tank and has several articles opposing electoral reform on its website. It is hardly an unbiased group to convene a series of focus groups across the country.
Was it the only group that applied for the job of convening the focus groups? Was the process even open for other facilitators to apply for this opportunity? Those are just a couple of questions.
I would also like the Minister for Democratic Reform to tell Canadians what criteria he used to select the 40 people for the first focus group? Are they selected from certain segments of the population? Are they representative in any way? Did he put an ad in a paper or on a government website and did they apply to come to the discussion? How does one know where to go to be a part of this hand-picked, closed-door process?
Canadians are not fooled by the government. They know that real civic engagement does not happen behind closed doors. If the minister really wanted participation, he would support Motion No. 262.
I ask again, will the minister now admit that his sham process of bogus civic engagement is a waste of energy? Will he do the right thing, withdraw the electoral reform from that process and commit to full citizens' consultation across Canada?