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Wilks gives rep-by-pop Act thumbs up
Legislation introduced in the House of Commons this week will lead to representation-by-population in the federal government system.
The Stephen Harper Conservatives launched the Fair Representation Act to meet a promise, said Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks.
“Our government received a strong mandate from Canadians to move towards representation by population in the House of Commons. This is a long-standing commitment of our government. We are delivering on our commitments with the introduction of the Fair Representatio Act,” he said in a news release.
The Act means British Columbians will receive six more seats in Parliament, while Alberta will also gain six seats. Ontario would get an additional 15 seats.
“Canadians living in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta have become significantly underrepresented as their populations have grown,” said Minister of State Tim Uppal. “The Fair Representation Act delivers on our Government’s long-standing commitment and moves every single province towards the principle of representation by population.”
The news release also notes that the legislation also “fulfils our platform commitment to prevent Quebec from becoming under-represented relative to its population, since the purpose of the bill is to move every single province towards representation by population. To this end, Quebec will receive three new seats which will be proportionate to its share of the population.”
The release also explained that the formula updates are nationally applicable and reflect the government’s three distinct promises to provide fairer representation by: Allocating an increased number of seats now and in the future to better reflect population growth in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta; while maintaining the number of seats for slower-growing provinces; and; maintaining the proportional representation of Quebec according to population.
The Fair Representation Act also includes amendments to the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act that streamlines the boundary readjustment process to ensure that it will be completed and in effect before the end of the Government’s mandate.
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