READJUSTMENT OF ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES
AND REPRESENTATION IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Representation in the House of Commons is readjusted after each decennial (10-year) census to reflect changes and movements in Canada’s population in accordance with the Constitution Act, 1867, and the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.

Federal electoral boundaries commissions

Readjustment of federal electoral boundaries is carried out by independent commissions. Ten federal electoral boundaries commissions are established, one for each province, to consider and report on any changes required to the boundaries of the electoral districts. As the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut constitute only one electoral district each, no electoral boundaries commissions are required. Each commission is chaired either by a judge appointed by the Chief Justice of that province, or by a person resident in that province appointed by the Chief Justice of Canada. As well, the Speaker of the House of Commons appoints two other members who are resident in that province.

The independent commissions prepare proposals. The proposals are published in the Canada Gazette and public hearings are held to ensure public participation in the redistribution process. Following the hearings, the commissions determine if changes should and can be made. The commissions then prepare their reports and forward them to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada who forwards them to the Speaker of the House of Commons for tabling.

Members of the House of Commons have 30 days to examine the reports and file objections with a specified Committee of the House of Commons. The Committee then has 30 sitting days to review the objections for each Commission. The objections, as well as the minutes of the committee’s discussions and the evidence heard, will be sent to the Chief Electoral Officer and forwarded back to the appropriate Commission.

The commissions then have 30 days to consider the objections from the members of the House of Commons and make their own final decisions, independent of the Chief Electoral Officer and Parliament. The commissions will consider these objections in the same manner as they considered input from the public hearings. In all cases, the final decisions rest with the boundaries commissions.

The Chief Electoral Officer refers the commissions’ final reports to the Speaker of the House of Commons and prepares a draft representation order. The representation order:

• specifies the number of members of the House of Commons to be elected for each province



• divides each province into electoral districts



• describes the boundaries of each district



• specifies the population of, and the name to be given to, each district

2001 readjustment

On March 13, 2002, following the release of the population figures from the 2001 Census, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada published in the Canada Gazette the result of the calculations required by the Constitution Act, 1867. The result was an increase in the number of seats in the House of Commons from 301 to 308, with three additional seats attributed to Ontario, two additional seats to Alberta, and two additional seats to British Columbia. Federal electoral district boundaries are now being revised in all provinces.

To ensure public participation in the process, public hearings were held from August to December 2002. The commissions had all submitted their reports by the end of March 2003. The reports will be examined by a parliamentary committee and then reconsidered by the commissions, if necessary, but the commissions are under no obligation to adopt any suggested changes.

A new representation order was proclaimed on August 25, 2003, and will come into force with the first dissolution of Parliament to occur after August 25, 2004.

The 1996 Representation Order remains in effect for all federal elections and by-elections until the new representation order takes effect. The current representation order allocates 7 seats to Newfoundland and Labrador, 4 to Prince Edward Island, 11 to Nova Scotia, 10 to New Brunswick, 75 to Quebec, 103 to Ontario, 14 to Manitoba, 14 to Saskatchewan, 26 to Alberta, and 34 to British Columbia. The Constitution Act, 1867 allocates 1 seat to Yukon, 1 to the Northwest Territories and 1 to Nunavut. There is currently a total of 301 seats in the House of Commons.

The Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act also requires the Chief Electoral Officer and Natural Resources Canada to publish maps showing the new electoral district boundaries resulting from the redistribution process. Previously, this requirement was fulfilled by the publication of separate electoral district maps that were available only on an individual basis. In 1996, Elections Canada published these electoral district maps in book form for the first time, making all electoral district maps relative to a specific province or to the Northwest Territories – as it was at the time – available in one volume. These atlases are available from Elections Canada.

The federal electoral boundaries commissions are independent bodies that make all decisions regarding the proposed and final federal electoral boundaries.

The role of Elections Canada is to provide support services to the boundaries commission in each province. Elections Canada is the non-partisan agency of Parliament responsible for the conduct of federal elections and referendums.

For more information:

Elections Canada
257 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0M6

Telephone

1 800 463-6868
toll-free in Canada and the United States

001 800 514-6868
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(613) 993-2975
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May 2003