Electoral Reform committee  I think an MP would run the risk there, because it produces two kinds of members of Parliament. That phrase in the Senate reference about the architecture of the constitution, you would agree with me, is not a precise phrase, and creating two kinds of members might be found to be

Electoral Reform committee  That's a really important question. We're getting to know a lot more about youth in politics. We know the bad news that the youngest cohort of voters, aged 18 to 25, has the lowest turnout. Nonetheless, we have some very resourceful colleagues—Paul Howe of the University of New

Electoral Reform committee  That's not good news.

Electoral Reform committee  I think coalition has become a bad brand. It got branded “bad” in 2008 by leaders of the Conservative Party. I thought that was very misleading. I've already said that I prefer a minority government arrangement to a coalition, but it's not “bad”. The one thing to be sure about,

Electoral Reform committee  We developed, really from Pierre Trudeau's time—and he really began the process—a very large and very powerful Prime Minister's Office. Most Canadians are unaware that it's much bigger and more powerful than in London, England, than in Canberra, than in Wellington and other Wes

Electoral Reform committee  I've written a lot about constitutional conventions and have spent a good deal of my life with them, and I certainly like the Jennings test, but as Sir Ivor Jennings would be the first to acknowledge, they're really identified in the political process. If a prime minister says, “

Electoral Reform committee  There's a lot of it, but I don't have any data. My guess is that we're a less cynical citizenry in Canada, less cynical about democracy, than in most other countries. But I don't see excessive cynicism out there, do you, sir? Do you think a lot of people are cynical? Maybe I mix

Electoral Reform committee  Part of my presentation mentioned the danger in minority parliaments, parliaments with no majority party, of a very strict discipline coming into play, because on every vote the government stands or falls and it's do or die. My suggestion is that if we had a system that more accu

Electoral Reform committee  I'm afraid I didn't catch the question.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm not up-to-date on what you've heard. He combines what is a very interesting idea: having single-member constituencies in more rural parts of Canada and multi-member constituencies in the cities.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes. I've been thinking a lot about that. In my own little odyssey, I was pretty stuck on mixed member proportional—I think this committee is getting to know all this technical talk—whereby you have lists to top up the first past the post members. As I read more and look more at

Electoral Reform committee  I'm just going to give you one more prayer. I get down on my hands and knees because this is just a stabilizing reform—it's my last one, Mr. Chair—if you do change the electoral system. I think most of the public here doesn't know what I'm going to say. We're virtually the onl

Electoral Reform committee  Mr. Chair, it would be just terrible if you get a new electoral system, a proportional representation producing a true representation of the Canadian people, and you elect members of Parliament and don't know when it will meet.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes. I'm sorry to have overstepped my time.

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the members of the committee for giving me an opportunity to share my ideas with you on this very important topic you are working on. I congratulate all 12 of you for working on this committee and devoting some real time. I guess it's not just time