Electoral Reform committee  I don't really have much of a position on it anyway. I would just say that it seems to run counter to the notion of democracy and free choice of what you want to do and whether you want to vote or not.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm satisfied that first past the post gives us effective governance in this country, based on the outcomes that have been achieved for Canada and where we rank in world rankings on just about every measure. First past the post is fine. Some people seem to prefer that MPs shoul

Electoral Reform committee  I think that's more a misconception than anything. If you expect proportional outcomes when you have a riding-based system with more than one party, it's just not going to happen. If there's an education requirement, so be it. I think the system works as intended, and I think it'

Electoral Reform committee  I think a lot of it is how well you get to know your MP and having a local MP that's familiar to people. However, when you get into things like nomination processes and stuff like that, it's how well the MP can reach out to a reasonably sized constituency to attract support. Th

Electoral Reform committee  Not before. I think those things go hand in glove with a proportional system. If you're going to go to a system that creates minority parliaments on a regular basis, then you need these sorts of mechanisms in place at that point to achieve stability over the long term.

Electoral Reform committee  I don't think I'm in a position to speak to that. I'm here just as an individual and I believe my work is totally separate.

Electoral Reform committee  I might say that now, but I don't think our system is geared towards coalition governments. When those instances happened, they created a certain crisis. I think that the crisis was created because we didn't have the mechanisms in place. We didn't have a Governor General who was

Electoral Reform committee  It seems like it's possible, but we haven't had it. I think the reason we haven't is that we've had a system that works based on the party in power. I think it's that we've had majorities most of the time, and we follow the same practice when we have minorities.

Electoral Reform committee  Well, as I indicated earlier, things like a chancellor's majority in Germany would clearly achieve greater stability or constructive...as opposed to no confidence. First of all, coalitions themselves are a key part of providing stability, and we don't have that right now. I thi

Electoral Reform committee  I think there are a lot of PR countries that probably do have it right. I know one that's cited quite a bit is New Zealand. It's compared a lot to Canada, because we're both Westminster systems and stuff like that. At the same time, they have a couple of mechanisms that we don't

Electoral Reform committee  Just like the difference between proportional representation, and the variations of it, and first past the post, it involves trade-offs. Within all of those options you talk about that are available, there are trade-offs as well. I guess I direct my concerns at proportional repr

Electoral Reform committee  It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure how effective it is given the timing between elections. Perhaps it would be useful, but I don't know if you're going to see the tangible effects of any system until several election cycles anyway. If proportional representation does lead to

Electoral Reform committee  The geography is a crucial challenge, as well as the provincial boundaries that we have. A lot of the advocates of proportional representation seem to be willing to offer that there would be exceptions for the very large northern ridings, but as you indicate, as you move further

Electoral Reform committee  I was anticipating that question. I hadn't really come up with a good answer yet. At some point, whatever the committee comes up with, it will require some legitimization for Canadians. I haven't seen anything better at this point than a referendum, while recognizing all the chal

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you for the opportunity to present to your committee today. Let me be clear on my perspective on electoral reform. I am unconvinced that adopting proportional representation in Canada would improve our democratic outcomes. As many witnesses have made clear, there's no sin