Electoral Reform committee  I think so. But I was not born yesterday. You put those words in my mouth, but that does not mean that I am in favour of people not going to vote.

Electoral Reform committee  What you are saying, in other words, is that people are not tripping over themselves in the buses in your constituency to talk about reforming the voting method. That is true everywhere

Electoral Reform committee  I heard that argument about a number of topics during my 25 years as an MNA. It is always used by those who favour the status quo. They say that they do not hear the topic being talked about in their constituencies. You are right about one thing: a method of voting is not changed

Electoral Reform committee  You have just had my answer, but I know that it does not satisfy you. It is not what you wanted to hear. My response is clear, however: that is not what counts. Even if the participation rate drops, that is not the crux of the issue. The biggest concern is representation.

Electoral Reform committee  Okay. The experiment was conducted in New Zealand. The advantage is that people can try out a political mechanism that can be quite complex, depending on the choice made. When people try a system out, they make it their own and most of them, with the exception of new voters who

Electoral Reform committee  Then it is easier for people to make an informed judgment as a result.

Electoral Reform committee  Otherwise, those elected have the responsibility to take the leadership in making that informed decision.

Electoral Reform committee  But if you do not have the principles at the outset, I believe that you are off to a really bad start in making those political choices.

Electoral Reform committee  The committee's mandate already states a number of principles and values. You have to think about it and assess the various options. It really is a fundamental guide. For example, must we attribute importance to fair representation of the major political currents in our society?

Electoral Reform committee  Madam, I do not feel that the Constitution concerns itself with the method of voting. The important thing is to preserve democracy. Democracy is a parliamentary majority, but, in this case, given that this debate is about the method of representation, it is also a popular majorit

Electoral Reform committee  Let’s not confuse issues. I believe that the funding of political parties is one matter and reforming the method of voting is another. However, that gives me the opportunity to come back to—

Electoral Reform committee  I would like to have talked about the referendum in the 10 minutes I was given, but I did not have the time to do so. What would be most helpful is for the committee here to do its work and, after lengthy study of the matter, to propose a solution to the people. After two general

Electoral Reform committee  I see no Canadian list, clearly. Otherwise, we would not be talking about regional compensation but national compensation. You cannot really think in terms of a national list for an area as huge as Canada. That could not be sustainable for long, in my opinion.

Electoral Reform committee  First, you have to establish a compensatory method based on regions.

Electoral Reform committee  It would mean the major federated jurisdictions and perhaps a group of federated jurisdictions in some cases. Quebec would be a region, for example. Within Quebec, there would also be sub-regions. There would not be just one regional constituency in Quebec. As proposed for the Na