Electoral Reform committee  I may be mistaken, but I think that in British Columbia, there was a simple majority in favour of change.

Electoral Reform committee  But it did not reach the pre-set threshold.

Electoral Reform committee  Exactly.

Electoral Reform committee  Exactly.

Electoral Reform committee  That is definitely possible.

Electoral Reform committee  The same thing happened in Ontario during an election in which I myself was a candidate. The referendum was held in 2007 at the same time as the provincial election. The government of the day said that it would not campaign for or against change. I was a candidate for the offici

Electoral Reform committee  As much as I don't worry about mandatory voting, I'm not sure that's a convincing, long-term way of fixing one's commitment to the system. Turnout was high at elections where people felt like there was something at stake, which usually coincided with a change in government, but n

Electoral Reform committee  You are reading me correctly, in the sense that I don't think the process is doing that yet, but I am not sure the process needed to do it at this stage, in the sense that it is important to do the research and get to facts and essays and papers. As you think about what you do wi

Electoral Reform committee  That's an excellent question. I'm not sure I would go all the way to say that parliamentary reform or other reforms would fix all the issues because, frankly, we have to worry first about the men and women we send to the Commons before we worry about what they do once they get t

Electoral Reform committee  I think Mr. Scott talked about that earlier. I think it's very important to consider not only the mechanics of reform, but its impact on how the House of Commons works. How can Parliament foster work-life balance in light of the added challenges of geography, particularly compare

Electoral Reform committee  I think it is. I think the more you can get to actual, concrete details around your models, the more it will increase public confidence that you've done the homework and that you have come to a common view. When you think about what happens after your report, the more you all agr

Electoral Reform committee  I'm not sure it's up to me to propose an articulation of the problem. On the process, though, if we knew how to get citizens engaged in the manner in which we all hope they would on all things at all times, political life would be considerably easier in Canada. It's a challenge w

Electoral Reform committee  I think you're right about the importance of understanding all of the reasons why people don't vote. It's true that some of those reasons have nothing to do with the voting system. However, it is clear that quite a few of their reasons are indeed related to the voting system. Y

Electoral Reform committee  I agree with you. There probably is no such person, and that might be a good thing. The fact that some votes cast don't count or don't affect the outcome of an election means that, for some people, in their part of the country, the party they support is under-represented and d

Electoral Reform committee  Not to be too cute, but find more time. A pan-Canadian citizens' assembly is probably unworkable, given geography and those things, but I think there are other ways you can build a process. If you are going to follow the principle that you first need to define before you discuss