Electoral Reform committee  Okay. Thank you very much.

Electoral Reform committee  Oh. I didn't know that.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes, there's even more necessity to have a referendum in that situation. I'll have to look into what Minister Monsef said. I will do that and see if it's as crystal clear as you suggest. If it is, I'd be extremely disappointed. I have to catch a plane to get to a boat. I don't

Electoral Reform committee  You know what you should do? You should look at some of these lists. Don't take it from me. Look at some of the lists that the German parties and the New Zealand parties have. You will see that they've put terrific people on there. They put stars on there—outstanding people—in

Electoral Reform committee  Are you sure you're talking about STVs? That's not a single member system. You're talking about alternative voting, preferential voting. That's different. That has nothing to do with STVs.

Electoral Reform committee  With MMP, it is clearly easier for many women who have, particularly, domestic responsibilities, to be list candidates than to do the very heavy-duty door knocking, which you people all know you have to do to be an MP elected in a constituency. You've all done that. In STV, where

Electoral Reform committee  With great respect to Fair Vote Canada, this expression of “every vote counts” I don't think is a good slogan. You've just heard how it can be turned around. Every vote is counted, and in a system of proportional representation, lots of votes in a different sense aren't counted.

Electoral Reform committee  Just on your referendum question, I hope the proposal is not the Prime Minister's. I hope it's a recommendation from this committee with a strong cross-bench consensus behind you. That's what the people of Canada want from you. They don't want just Justin Trudeau's preference. Th

Electoral Reform committee  Several things have happened since 2004. I mentioned the citizens' assemblies. I know they weren't all the Canadian citizens, but they were cross-sections. They were extraordinary efforts to involve ordinary Canadians from all walks of life. You should look at their work. You sho

Electoral Reform committee  I don't think it will; I think the opposite. I think it will encourage parties to be national. Right now it's tempting for parties that run consistently second or third and don't get any representation in the House of Commons to focus just on the region in which they have stren

Electoral Reform committee  So, let's be evidence-driven.

Electoral Reform committee  I would not go for a trial run. I really would go into town halls and other places for simulations. I think one of the best ways of getting people who haven't really thought much about these alternatives to do so is to have simulations. It's the best way of teaching. I've exper

Electoral Reform committee  If you take a Saturday afternoon off and have a couple of votes, one under one system and one under the other, not only do they learn something, but they have a lot of fun. Do that; have simulations.

Electoral Reform committee  Sure.

Electoral Reform committee  I think it's a matter of legitimacy. Looking for a convention may sound very erudite and intellectual. I just think it would be a bad idea to change the electoral system and not have a referendum. It could go down very badly with the Canadian people. But I think what you have t