Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm appreciative of what this particular motion is presenting. I recognize that I ran in a riding where the incumbent was retiring, but had I not run in a riding where the incumbent was retiring, it is clearly, and we know this statistically, proven time and time again, and I think that my colleague from Kam Lake was being a little bit conservative on his numbers as it relates to the percentage that an incumbent has as an advantage in getting back into office. It's more like 85 percent, from some statistics that I've seen in the past. That comes because they have a lot of exposure through various forms of mediums, and it is extremely difficult for any new candidate who is going to make this commitment in life. There are a lot of different things that they have to get in order to even come to this decision that we are going to make in terms of for them to run.
Again, we talk about us wanting to promote women getting into politics and leadership roles, and one of the challenges that we've identified, as has the Member on the other side of the House, one of them is the financial challenges that they have. When you're competing against an incumbent, boy, do you ever have to take out of your pocket, or certainly go knocking on your friends' doors to see if you can raise any kind of money to compete against an incumbent, because it's difficult.
In a very short period of time, in the writ period, you have 35 days to put out the best case scenario for promoting yourself; whether it's on social media, or in the newspapers, on the radios, at the public forums, knocking on doors, and you have to have some kind of messaging document with you all the time, whether it's brochures, et cetera. They all cost money. What this is going to allow is for not only any candidate, but especially non-incumbent candidates to go out and raise some funds. This isn't just about money out of their own pocket. They are allowed to go and raise some funds. Write some letters to some friends and family and say, "I need your help. I'm going to do my best and put my best foot forward, and would you kindly support me." They can collect some money and make the case and build support for themselves. Frankly, I appreciate that the Member has put this forward, and I will give it my support. Thank you, Mr. Chair.