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The Preliminary Proposals
With this
framework established, the Commission set about the task of establishing
preliminary Proposals. It first met in Ottawa at the orientation conference
hosted by Elections Canada on March 13–15, 2002. Subsequent meetings were all
held in British Columbia, principally in the Commission’s Vancouver office. In
all aspects of its work, the Commission was very ably assisted by Mr.
Christopher Gifford, the geography specialist seconded to it by Elections
Canada.
The Commission
produced a preliminary plan that was published in the Canada Gazette
on July 20, 2002. That plan reflected several basic decisions:
- Vancouver Island’s representation did not need to change and its existing
electoral districts were in reasonable balance. Thus the island’s electoral
districts were to be left as they were with the exception of a very
minor geographical alteration made to the Saanich–Gulf Islands
and Esquimalt–Juan de Fuca border, which did not affect population
numbers.
- Internal shifts in the population density of the province meant that
not only would the two additional seats to be created need to go to
the Lower Mainland but that there would also need to be a net transfer
of one electoral district from the interior and northern areas of the
province to the Lower Mainland. Despite this reduction of one seat,
the interior and northern areas would still be slightly overrepresented.
- In reorganizing the electoral boundaries of the electoral districts
in the North, it was thought important to minimize disruptions. This
led to a proposal to essentially merge the Skeena and Cariboo–Chilcotin
electoral districts while leaving the two centred on Prince George relatively
unchanged.
- Recognizing that the preliminary Proposals were just that, and seeking
to solicit local opinion, the Commission based its plan in favour of
equally sized electoral districts. It believed (rightly as it proved)
that this would stimulate public input on the community of interest
criteria and allow that factor to then modify the plan as its final
form was developed.
The preliminary Proposals were published as a Supplement to the Canada
Gazette, Part I on July 20, 2002. Included in the Proposals was an
announcement that public hearings would be held in a number of locations
across the province and an invitation for interested parties to declare
their intention to appear before the Commission. The plan was subsequently
widely distributed in newspapers circulating in the province and was posted
on Elections Canada’s Web site under Federal Representation 2004.
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