Electoral Reform committee  My response would be that I oppose going from principles to choices and only then coming up with concrete questions. In my class, I've basically designed about 20 questions about the potential consequences of electoral systems. By the way, you're all invited anytime to come to my

Electoral Reform committee  You interviewed two of them yesterday, but there was a third person, David Farrell, who was basically the chair of that commission. As I recall it, I think it was three-fourths ordinary citizen members, and one-fourth members of Parliament, and also members from the various parti

Electoral Reform committee  Can I address this question? This is a very interesting question because I've closely examined the citizen assemblies in British Columbia, in Ontario, and in the Netherlands, and we have a book, When Citizens Decide, about this. I was so impressed by the quality of discussion a

Electoral Reform committee  It will be just after that.

Electoral Reform committee  I think it's around December 5.

Electoral Reform committee  This is a normative judgment as a citizen. I think it would be preferable to no referendum at all, but I think that before making a substantial change there should be a referendum to make sure that Canadians agree with the principles of trying a new system. I think it would be a

Electoral Reform committee  Obviously, I'm more than happy to disagree with my tennis partner over here. It's my belief that a referendum is necessary. But, if a referendum were held, I would want to see a commitment by all the parties to accept the outcome. If a change were made, if the Conservatives won

Electoral Reform committee  I am clearly in favour of more concrete proposals. I think that if the committee could come up with, let's say, five concrete proposals, that would help a lot. That would not be the end of it. There is always the possibility of other options coming out later, but focusing the a

Electoral Reform committee  I will not directly answer the question, but I might, after we have been grilled many times. We'll see. I will be giving a class on electoral reform this fall for 35 students, and we'll discuss all the studies that have been done. In the last five weeks, the students will deliber

Electoral Reform committee  I hate to admit it but I fully agree with my colleagues. This is very rare in my life, but it's unfortunately the case this time.

Electoral Reform committee  The exact questions that were asked in those surveys were the following, almost exactly. The question about satisfaction with democracy is this. How satisfied are you with the way democracy works in your country? And the choices of answer are the following: very satisfied; fairl

Electoral Reform committee  All of these results are not absolutely certain. This is the best evidence we have, and it's still not.... More work could be done. But unsurprisingly, I guess, when you ask specifically about perceptions of fairness, then PR clearly performs better. But when you ask for a very g

Electoral Reform committee  My apologies, I meant Prince Edward Island. That's one approach I would encourage the committee to consider. Instead of selecting one option, it could select five and propose a preference-based referendum. As a citizen, not as a researcher, that's something I would be in favour

Electoral Reform committee  Your question clearly surprises me. I wasn't expecting a question like that. Seriously, though, I would say it's a normative issue. As a researcher, I don't have an answer to that question. The issue is whether it is up to citizens to decide on the voting system at the end of th

Electoral Reform committee  I have young children—not that young but not too old. They are students who spend most of their lives online. For them, voting online would be the natural thing. I'm certainly open to the idea. The concern, as Mr. Mayrand has mentioned, is whether we can really make sure that the