Electoral Reform committee  I don't think that the mixed proportional system has any advantage over what I refer to as moderate proportional representation. I don't believe that maintaining single-member constituencies is better than having constituencies with three, four or five members. I think that voters would like to be able to choose their member and choose to which member they can reach out.

Electoral Reform committee  As for the deadline, I'm not sure. I started with the government's statement of intention to carry out a reform that would apply in the next election. I don't think you will manage to implement a mixed system before the next election, as I feel that we would either have to double the number of members in the House of Commons—an unreasonable task—or revise single-member constituencies, a very complicated endeavour.

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you. First, the less conflictual effect potentially results, or should result, from the preferential vote given that, these days, the political parties exaggerate the differences between them. They do this all the time. We have proof: six months after an election, there are always commentators who say that the new government is acting just like its predecessor, and is itself doing what it criticized in the past.

Electoral Reform committee  I don't know what the answer to your question is. I think, regardless of the voting system, the three criteria you mention play into people's decision. And they don't do it the same way for everything. I don't know if there is a voting system that favours the criteria of the party leader, the program or the local personality—or personalities.

Electoral Reform committee  I think the opposite, actually. Our municipal electoral system isn't good. If we had a parliamentary system at the municipal level… In Quebec City, people cast two votes. They vote for Mayor Boucher, but don't vote for anyone who wants to support her on municipal council because they don't want to direct their two votes to the same choice.

Electoral Reform committee  It's not too easy to design a voting system that takes into account all the requirements of your mandate—I don't know what to call it. I haven't tried to add to it. I'm happy to work with that.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes, that's my opinion, too.

Electoral Reform committee  I think the reasonable decision would be to establish three single-member seat constituencies in the northern territories. I think these people would become frustrated with the others, which would have the possibility of having several MPs. After two or three elections, they would ask to be grouped together to establish a single constituency with three seats.

Electoral Reform committee  I tend to think there should be three or four. To avoid having too many parties in the House of Commons and compensating for small political parties, the transferable vote helps them find out where they stand and helps them look after their voters. Having three or four members per district would be a huge improvement over the current situation.

Electoral Reform committee  I think the opposite would be true for the Maritimes. If we held a proportional election without preferential votes, the Liberal Party would lose seats in the Maritimes. I don't know which ones or how many. If preferential voting was added, since the Liberal Party is the centrist party, I think it would lose fewer.

Electoral Reform committee  The example of the 2002 presidential election that Mr. Côté used is very interesting to see the merits of a preferential vote. Le Pen got in just ahead of Jospin, the socialist candidate, because 25% of voters voted for other leftist parties. If there had been a preferential vote instead of a two-round vote—two-round voting is partial preferential voting in which voters can give only two preferences, for which they must vote twice—from the early counting of the results, Jospin would have beat out Le Pen.

Electoral Reform committee  Closed lists are exactly the same as the current situation. Right now, we don't choose the candidate in a constituency. We either vote for the person because we are happy with their party, or we vote for the person and ignore the party they are representing—I think very few people do that—or we vote for the party, regardless of the candidate.

Electoral Reform committee  People on the list will be appointed by the party members in the constituency.

Electoral Reform committee  So you would prefer ranked ballots to be applied as they are in Ireland, and allow voters to pass judgment on both the person and the party, and possibly—

Electoral Reform committee  My preference would also be for the Irish system. People who say that the Irish system is dangerous for the cohesion of the party may obtain a concession. It is possible to have ranked ballots between the parties, without—