Mr. Speaker, I should have made it explicit that he was assisting the Chair and the desk on the motion. Indeed, I do spot him now. I do want to ask a couple of questions of the member. I know he cannot answer because he has already spoken, but he can ponder them.
In the meantime I wanted to say I do agree that there should be more educational material made available to schools and young people's organizations. I think that is very important.
I also believe that Elections Canada should be directed to work with different organizations and groups such as Kids Voting Canada and Scouts Canada, and through the schools, the high schools, with teachers, and in junior colleges and universities. I believe that is very important.
The one thing I would like the member to think about is not just the possibility of having young people between the ages of 16 and 18 voting in so-called mock elections in a parallel voting process, because I can remember participating in those when I was a high school and university student as well: I would like the member to consider the possibility of lowering the voting age to 16.
I think we should take a really good look at lowering the voting age to 16 so that people between the ages of 16 and 18 have an actual vote. They can help determine the members of this Parliament and the Government of Canada.
I remember when I was first elected back in 1968 when I was 22. I was one of several members of Parliament who moved a private member's bill in the House to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. That was considered fairly radical in the years before 1968.
Now I think the time has come that we should look seriously at lowering the voting age to 16. In our country a person can drive a car and get a driver's licence at age 16. There are many other things a person is legally allowed to do at the age of 16.
We want to engage young people. We want to get them interested in our process, interested in being a part of the public policy decision making body. I would say to the member for Peterborough: give some thought to lowering the voting age to 16. This might be a way of getting young people really engaged. I think it is a motion that we should be putting before the House very shortly.
I also want to make another point in terms of the participation rate or the turnout among young people and that is the whole idea of reinstating enumeration. We have had all kinds of complaints from people across the country about being left off the voters list.
If we reinstate enumeration, where enumerators go from house to house, it would be a very good thing for young people in particular because younger people tend to move from place to place. Not only are university students away during the university year or back home depending on when the election is, but young people move out on their own. They are getting an apartment, a job, seeing different parts of the country, and travelling a bit. If we had door to door enumeration and put them on the voters list, it would act as a reminder that there is a general election campaign. This is something I would like the member across the way to think of as well: reinstating enumeration.
The third point I wish to mention to the member for Peterborough, who is an independent free spirit and a progressive member, is the whole idea of a fixed election date. I introduced a motion in the House just last week to bring in a fixed election date in this country, except of course where a government loses confidence and has to go to the polls. I recommend a fixed election date. We would have an election every four years.
This has nothing to do with the sponsorship scandal whatsoever. I have believed for a long time that we should have a fixed election date. It should be in either the spring or the fall, in either June or October, the two best months in this country in which to have a general election campaign.
If we do have a fixed date, it takes away the power of the Prime Minister and the premiers to manipulate the date for their own benefits and for their own party's benefit. There is not a party in this country, including my own in Saskatchewan, or the party in B.C. or Ontario, where we have formed provincial governments, that has not manipulated the election date in order to suit their own political interests. It is a natural thing, because the Prime Minister and premiers can call elections when they see fit.
I remember talking with Tommy Douglas a few years before he passed away. He had been the premier of Saskatchewan and was elected in 1944. He had elections every four years in June: in 1948, in 1952, in 1956, and in 1960, all in June. He said that one regret he had was he did not make it a statutory requirement to have elections held every four years. I think that would also encourage young people to vote because they would not suspect or see the political leadership manipulating the date for its own benefit and for its own opportunistic reasons.
British Columbia is the only province that now has a fixed election day set by the Liberal government of Premier Campbell. When he became premier of that province a couple of years ago, the date was set for four years hence. Therefore, a level playing field and a sense of fairness that young people are so concerned about have been created.
The last point I want to make, which I suppose this is the most important point, is the whole idea of changing our voting system, and I am not sure where the member for Peterborough stands on the idea.
The United States, India and Canada are the only three countries with more than 10 million people that use the pure first past the post system. Even Britain has a partial system of proportional representation in Scotland and Wales, and they elect all their MPs to the European Parliament through PR.
I would like the member for Peterborough to do some thinking about reforming the voting system. I am just talking about the principle of proportional representation. Under PR, every vote counts, no vote is wasted and a party that gets around 20% of the votes gets around 20% of the seats. Therefore, we have equality of people from one coast to the other. Young people then could see their vote count in the make up of Parliament and the government of the day.
We should strike an all-party committee to look at the idea of voting reform. We could have public hearings, come up with a couple of different models, bring them back to Parliament and then put the most attractive new model, along with the first past the post system, on a ballot for a national referendum, like was done in New Zealand and elsewhere, and let the people of this country choose between the status quo and a system of proportional representation.
These are just some ideas I wanted to suggest in terms of debate. I support the motion, but let us look at reinstating the enumeration, lowering the voting age to 16, bringing in a fixed election day and reforming the voting system to bring in a system of proportional representation that would be much more inclusive and empowering to return the governance of this place to the people of Canada.