Electoral Reform committee  Thank you.

Electoral Reform committee  That's a really good question. First off, I just want to say, if I've ruffled any feathers, that I have a lot of respect for everyone around the table. Thank you very much for having me. With regard to your question, Elections Canada came in and had voting booths on campus, and we saw a huge increase.

Electoral Reform committee  I have to be really diplomatic here.

Electoral Reform committee  I think it was the tone of the election. I actually wrote a little piece on this in The Independent. It was more about change, trying to get rid of a government that was around for a long time. I'm not criticizing the government or anything, but when a government is around for a long time, the shelf life expires after a while.

Electoral Reform committee  I started off getting interested in history and then getting involved in my community, working with people who were a bit more impoverished than I was. I volunteered with Junior Achievement. I was always wanting to help people and stuff. I didn't grow up in a political household.

Electoral Reform committee  You're all the same. I think that's probably what they see. They can't see the difference.

Electoral Reform committee  That is an internal change within party structures and party co-operation. That's more of a cultural change than I think an electoral system change. I do think that changing the electoral system could help if you forced everyone to get along, co-operate, and work together. I think then you'd probably see more of a shift.

Electoral Reform committee  —where the Liberal Democrats had to help the Conservatives out. When you force parties to co-operate, then you can see the culture change a little, but I think when it comes down to it, we're not used to it. We're not used to having to co-operate. I know there's a lot of co-operation that happens behind the scenes, but from a citizen's perspective, we don't see that.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm an odd case. It wasn't in the home, but I think being more politically aware comes from all kinds of different things. Let's talk about things we can control, rather than things we can't control. I think that's what this conversation should be about.

Electoral Reform committee  With referendums, essentially, the conclusion is a vote. I think that because of the amount of mud-slinging that can come out during an election—we just need to look south to see that—the amount of misinformation that comes out during a referendum, and the capacity to fearmonger, which tends to happen in referendums as well, it is a pretty bad time to be....

Electoral Reform committee  It should be Elections Canada, an independent body that I think is world renowned for its ability to conduct elections. As a citizen of Canada, that's my thought on Elections Canada. That's one area, but again, I see your point. I'm inclined to agree on the amount of misinformation from all kinds of sources.

Electoral Reform committee  I'll go first. Going back to my point about referendums, I think it was Brian Mulroney actually—

Electoral Reform committee  We need to be able to answer the simple question, “Why should you care about politics?” When I look at the TV, I see that, as the other member stated, we always use pale, stuffy white men, or something.

Electoral Reform committee  Male, stale, pale; that's what we see. We see people who can't keep their promises, don't keep their word, lie to us, and do all kinds of things. It turns us off. All this pettiness turns us off. We don't have any real reason to care about the idea of politics, what this is, and why this is actually real.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm actually going to speak more on my own personal opinion on the referendum bit, coming from my background of political science. I think that we shouldn't be putting a price on democracy, first and foremost. I think that's very dangerous, and democracy is one of those prized institutions in our country that we should value.