Electoral Reform committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I would first like to say thank you to the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council for hosting this event on their traditional land, and to the Parliament of Canada for giving us the opportunity to submit our thoughts on reforming our c

Electoral Reform committee  Sorry: yes, okay. The number of ridings would be cut in half by joining adjacent ridings, so we'd end up with paired ridings, but the number of representatives from the overall area would remain the same. One candidate would be elected as a result of a preferential ballot count

Electoral Reform committee  Right. Okay, thanks. I put it in your email, but I couldn't translate it into French. I'm sorry. In the 2008 Ottawa election results, using the current first-past-the-post system, we dealt with six riding seats in Ottawa. The popular vote was Conservatives 39%, Greens 8%, Libera

Electoral Reform committee  Oh, no kidding: already.

Electoral Reform committee  They have 16.7% of the vote. For instance, in the electoral area of Ottawa, we have six ridings. With six ridings, it's 16.7% of the vote that each member would be representing.

Electoral Reform committee  No. All the candidates who are elected come from being candidates in the election.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes. We first of all get an idea of what parties should be represented, how much, and we take away a percentage from the seats that they have already won, because those votes are represented. We're trying to give representation to votes. The winner of a riding seat would be the

Electoral Reform committee  No, but they aren't elected by first past by the post. They're elected preferentially—

Electoral Reform committee  —and actually a Condorcet preferential. To give an example, with five candidates you get a point for every time you are chosen ahead of another candidate. A first-choice ballot would be worth four points, because they came ahead of four people. The second would be three; the thir

Electoral Reform committee  It's not a list. They win their seat by the election. Say there are between two—

Electoral Reform committee  No, not necessarily. The proportional seats represent the electoral area. Every riding in that electoral area has some voting results, and it's taken from there on a percentage basis how the candidate from that party did, and how that other candidate from that other party over th

Electoral Reform committee  Yes.

Electoral Reform committee  Well, it's not necessarily the second one in the riding; it's the party that wins the proportional seat.

Electoral Reform committee  No, the party has candidates in all of the ridings they were running in, and they didn't get elected to the preferential seat. So they are eligible for this seat. And it's the candidate that did the best in their riding.

Electoral Reform committee  Well, I didn't get that.