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FEDERAL ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES COMMISSION FOR QUEBEC
ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES READJUSTMENT ACT
Preamble
In accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment
Act, R.S.C. 1985, Chapter E-3 (hereinafter called "the Act"),
a Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission was established for the province
of Quebec by proclamation dated April 16, 2002, and published on May 8,
2002. The Commission consists of the following members:
Chairman: The Honourable Pierre Boudreault, Q.C.
Deputy Chairman: Mr. Victor Cayer, LL. L.
Member: Mr. Pierre Prémont, Ph.D.
The 2001 decennial census established the population of the province
of Quebec at 7,237,479. In accordance with subsection 14(1) of
the Act, the Chief Electoral Officer determined that this figure means
that the representation of the province of Quebec in the House of Commons
will remain at seventy-five (75) seats. Accordingly, this province
is divided into seventy-five (75) electoral districts. By dividing
the figure for the population of Quebec by seventy-five (75), the result
is an electoral quota of 96,500 for each of the electoral districts.
It is worth noting that the electoral quota further to the 1981 census
was 85,845 whereas the one further to the 1991 census, when the
last readjustment took place, was 91,946. The new quota, therefore,
represents increases of 12.41% and 4.95%, respectively.
Subsections 15(1) and 15(2) of the Act state the following:
- In preparing its report, each commission for a province shall, subject
to subsection (2), be governed by the following rules:
(a) the division of the province into electoral districts and the
description of the boundaries thereof shall proceed on the basis that
the population of each electoral district in the province as a result
thereof shall, as close as reasonably possible, correspond to the
electoral quota for the province, that is to say, the quotient obtained
by dividing the population of the province as ascertained by the census
by the number of members of the House of Commons to be assigned to
the province as calculated by the Chief Electoral Officer under subsection
14(1); and
(b) the commission shall consider the following in determining reasonable
electoral district boundaries:
(i) the community of interest or community of identity in or the
historical pattern of an electoral district in the province, and
(ii) a manageable geographic size for districts in sparsely populated,
rural or northern regions of the province.
- The commission may depart from the application of the rule set out
in paragraph (1)(a) in any case where the commission considers it necessary
or desirable to depart therefrom
(a) in order to respect the community of interest or community of
identity in or the historical pattern of an electoral district in
the province, or
(b) in order to maintain a manageable geographic size for districts
in sparsely populated, rural or northern regions of the province,
but, in departing from the application of the rule set out in paragraph
(1)(a), the commission shall make every effort to ensure that,
except in circumstances viewed by the commission as being extraordinary,
the population of each electoral district in the province remains
within twenty-five per cent more or twenty-five per cent less of the
electoral quota for the province.
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