Certainly, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, section 3 of the Charter provides that every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of Members of the House of Commons or of a Legislative Assembly and to be qualified for membership in either the House of Commons or in a Legislative Assembly. The courts have held that this section, which enshrines the right to vote, does not mean that there must be absolute parity or equality in voting power between individual citizens. In other words, it is not one person, one vote. It is not incorporating that concept. The courts have held that the purpose of that section is that each citizen in this country has a right to effective representation in a legislature and that one of the conditions of effective representation is a relative equality of voting power.

There are a number of other factors that the courts have set out when they have looked at what section 3 means, Mr. Chairman. Those factors include geography, the need for representation of minority groups, a commonality of community interests, the community history. Those are all factors that the courts have considered when they have looked at what the right to vote means. The primary purpose of that section is, that each citizen is entitled to effective representation. One of the main conditions of effective representation is, there is relative equality of voting power and that one citizen's vote is not unduly or unfairly diluted by belonging in a very large constituency. As a consequence of that section of the Charter, every time we look at our boundaries, we have to be very aware of that section of the factors that the courts have considered and take all of those factors into consideration in ensuring that our electoral boundaries meet the rights that have been set forth in the Charter, and hopefully, try to address the factors that the courts have specified. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.