A parliamentary committee is set to begin its review of federal electoral redistricting, which could see Ontario lose a seat and the western provinces gain some.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is set to meet on the matter on Jan. 31. A number of Conservative and Liberal MPs from east-coast ridings—including a minister—are set to appear, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The committee will be examining seat redistribution under the “Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act,” which would increase total Commons seat numbers from 338 to 343 seats. Canada’s electoral map was last redrawn prior to the 2015 federal election campaign and saw a total of 30 seats added between Ontario, B.C., and Alberta.
The committee will begin its study of numerous reports by the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission and will start by focusing on the east coast.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser and Liberal MPs Lena Metlege Diab and Jaime Battiste are set to appear as witnesses before the committee on the topic of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s 2022 report for Nova Scotia.
Conservative MP John Williamson will appear for a portion of the committee meeting discussing the commission’s 2022 report on New Brunswick.
Proposed redistribution changes would cause Toronto’s seats to decrease by one—from 25 to 24—by eliminating the Scarborough-Agincourt riding, currently held by Liberal MP Jean Yip.
The commission has also proposed several new ridings for Alberta, one being a new City of Calgary riding, another being for the suburban area of Airdrie-Chestermere, and a third being drawn up outside the Edmonton city limits.
B.C. would also gain a seat through the proposed redistribution.
“In exercising its mandate under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and given the allocation of one additional district to Ontario, the Commission found it necessary to propose many new electoral boundaries to correct wide variations in voter equality that have emerged across the province over the past decade due to population change,” said the commission’s chair, Justice Lynne Leitch, in a news release on Aug. 19, 2022.
The commission added on the same day that “over-representation in Toronto has emerged due to uneven population growth” between the city and its surrounding areas, which it said is expected to continue in the near future.
