Electoral Reform committee  Both in Parliament and in a personal way, I have always supported the development of political rights for indigenous peoples. Without that, it fits in with that colonial state. We have to recognize it. Our courts recognize it. There's so much need to move ahead with all aspects o

Electoral Reform committee  That is a challenge, I have to admit. It's a challenge to make any changes in Canada, but we have to accept that challenge. As long as you accept the challenge, if you can't do it in your mandate, then you set up a process that can carry on after this mandate is over. If Parliame

Electoral Reform committee  If you start squabbling before an election, then the process will get lost. The Danish energy minister said that to make changes in your country, you've got to have a consensus. To make sincere changes, you have to have this consensus.

Electoral Reform committee  The most common was that they wanted us to work together. Canadians are very much like that. They want to see people working together. That was the most common talk I heard at the door. Of course, you have a variety of points of view. Some people love the fact that we hammer away

Electoral Reform committee  It occurs quite often. If you talked about Parliament, that was the major thing, “Why can't these guys work together?”

Electoral Reform committee  Within the federal state, you must have had some discussions with whoever deals with the legal aspects of your mandate. I think you need to go there. You need to hear from the best people in the country about what Parliament can do to change the system. If you're going to go a ce

Electoral Reform committee  Yes, you have to take your time, but you are in Parliament for four years. If you sincerely want to accomplish something, you'd better do it in the four-year period because you may not have the chance afterwards. That's the reality of politics in this country. Here we have a mand

Electoral Reform committee  I grew up as a second-class citizen because all the political decisions that were made for my territory were being made in Ottawa. That wasn't the case for someone in Alberta, British Columbia, or Saskatchewan, or anywhere else in this country. We've had a long battle to get wh

Electoral Reform committee  Well, that question would be for a constitutional adviser, and you should have that very quickly in this committee. You should meet with constitutional experts to see what you can propose that would escape the requirement for constitutional discussions. My advice to you on that m

Electoral Reform committee  I have lived in the Northwest Territories all my life and I have had second-class political status the whole time. I don't want to see that continue for my grandchildren with any new system. That's totally unacceptable to me, and I think to many other people. I grew up being a se

Electoral Reform committee  That's correct. As far as Yukon goes, well, that's great. If Parliament wants to give us extra seats, as a northerner, I'd say that's great, but as a member of Parliament for 10 years, I don't think that's going to happen. That might not even stand up in court. When you're a sm

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie. You are in a very tight time frame, so I think if you move ahead with this, this committee will have to work very hard to come up with the answers you're looking for. As you say, there will be some bigger issues with that. We've heard talk of constituti

Electoral Reform committee  It was a wonderful experience working with other parliamentarians from other systems, because one understood that our system doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be the way we have it. We have a choice, and that's the exciting thing. We have a choice that we can make.

Electoral Reform committee  Well, I go back to what I said about this being a colonial state, and constitutionality versus practicality. We accepted the British system 150 years ago. Is it the system that we should have accepted? No. Maybe at that time that was a good idea because we didn't know anything el

Electoral Reform committee  I think that for us not to be involved in mixed member proportional would make us second-class citizens under voting. I don't think that should happen. I think there has to be a way that we can.... Obviously, have a member of Parliament elected from each of the territories becaus