Electoral Reform committee  Thank you. I would like to thank you for the invitation to appear today before the Special Committee on Electoral Reform. I would like to reiterate my interest in the topics being addressed here that aim to measure the strength of democracy in Canada and determine how the feder

Electoral Reform committee  This was a direct response to the fact that studies show that having positions at the top or bottom of the ballot led to a disproportionate amount of support from what is termed “the donkey vote” in Australia. Basically, the donkey vote is those votes cast by citizens who have no

Electoral Reform committee  I wouldn't be able to give you a number; however, I think that each electoral system has its challenges when it comes to local representation. On the first-past-the-post side, there is discussion of how much local representation there is, but on the proportional representation

Electoral Reform committee  You're referencing the 2007 electoral process in which they brought together the Scottish parliamentary balloting at the same time as local government and they were using two different electoral systems. I was thinking about this earlier, and it's not usual for me to quote pop cu

Electoral Reform committee  The latter being...sorry?

Electoral Reform committee  That is correct.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm going to have to yield to Mr. Mayrand and what he had indicated. The number he put forward—correct me if I'm wrong—was 24 months to conduct that process. They don't take offering those dates lightly, and I don't either. They will have gone through a serious exercise in order

Electoral Reform committee  I can certainly do that.

Electoral Reform committee  It's one way to frame it.

Electoral Reform committee  What challenges are there?

Electoral Reform committee  You mentioned integrity and you mentioned accessibility. Whether you're talking about online voting or about voting in person, those are two things that I'm constantly balancing—integrity and accessibility—with secrecy being very important there.

Electoral Reform committee  I am not an expert on the Australian electoral system, so I wouldn't want to offer you a number. I know it is a problem and it is what led to the different approach to balloting that took place there.

Electoral Reform committee  That's correct. As a result, it won't have an impact on the outcome. Now this being said, the randomization of ballots is not only caused by donkey voting; the literature will tell you there are other reasons for randomizing.

Electoral Reform committee  That's what the literature will tell you—

Electoral Reform committee  Yes.