Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. Redirecting resources that are currently spent on a constant state of election readiness toward voter participation programs would be a very good benefit. We've seen some examples: Elections Canada has undertaken some programs in the past; other organizations like teacher's

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can't cite any particular studies that talk about the increase in participation rates as a result of a fixed election date, although I'm assuming there is research done for this committee that could probably put forward some of that research. I think, from an intuitive point

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I know there are jurisdictions that do have that and that it has increased the electoral rate. My own preference actually is to have more proactive approaches to it. So I wouldn't necessarily support at this point penalties as a result--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This is an important point. It's one of the reasons it's essential to place this legislation in the context of broader electoral and democratic reform. For instance, in the last election there were some things that could have been seen as pre-election activities—economic statemen

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't have a better suggestion for a date, although I think these considerations should be taken into account.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think there probably is something to that, but I think that's the situation in the current system as well. We've seen situations where we're in kind of constant campaign mode. Recently federally that's been the case, and provincially as well. I can recall one time being nominat

Procedure and House Affairs committee  All right. In summary, then, we support this legislation, but we do believe it is in that context of other reforms.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the invitation to come and speak to you about Bill C-16 from the perspective of the NDP. We have circulated a brief and everybody should have a copy of it. It goes through some of the reasons we support the bill, introduces a caution, and mentions some o