Backgrounders

Elections Canada: General Information: Backgrounders

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, are 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 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. This signalled the start of a redistribution that would increase the number of seats in the House of Commons from 301 to 308, with 3 additional seats attributed to Ontario, 2 additional seats to Alberta, and 2 additional seats to British Columbia. 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 were examined by a parliamentary committee and then reconsidered by the commissions, as necessary, but the commissions were under no obligation to adopt any suggested changes. As a rule, under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, new boundaries come into force with the first dissolution of Parliament that occurs one year after the date of their proclamation. The early effectiveness date of the 2003 Representation Order resulted from the passage of Bill C-5, An Act respecting the effective date of the representation order of 2003, which received royal assent on March 11, 2004. The 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, 106 to Ontario, 14 to Manitoba, 14 to Saskatchewan, 28 to Alberta, and 36 to British Columbia. The Constitution Act, 1867 allocates 1 seat to Yukon, 1 to the Northwest Territories and 1 to Nunavut. There is a total of 308 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 boundaries resulting from the redistribution process. Fifteen maps – ten provincial, three territorial, and a small and large map of Canada – are included in this series. As well, eleven atlases, containing the name, description, population and map of each electoral district in the provinces or territories are also published. The maps show the federal electoral districts as set out in the Representation Order proclaimed on August 25, 2003 (for the provinces) or in the Constitution Act, 1867 (for the territories). 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. Elections Canada provides support services to the boundaries commission in each province. Elections Canada is an independent body set up by Parliament. For more information, please contact: 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 toll-free in Mexico (613) 993-2975 from anywhere in the world For people who are deaf or hard of hearing: TTY 1 800 361-8935 toll-free in Canada and the United States Fax (613) 954-8584 1 888 524-1444 toll-free in Canada and the United States This publication is available in alternative formats. February 2005