November 01, 2011
Harper Government Introduces Legislation to Move Every Province Towards Rep-by-Pop
Minister Uppal today announced that our Government has introduced the Fair Representation Act which will move every single province towards representation by population.
- Our Government received a strong mandate to move towards representation by population in the House of Commons.
- This is a long-standing commitment of our Conservative Government.
- Currently, the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario are underrepresented in the House of Commons.
- That is why we have introduced the Fair Representation Act.
- The Fair Representation Act will move every single province towards representation by population.
- Under the legislation:
- Ontario will receive an additional 15 seats (instead of 3)
- Alberta will receive an additional 6 seats (instead of 3)
- British Columbia will receive an additional 6 seats (instead of 1)
- As a result of the Fair Representation Act, all three provinces will move closer to representation by population.
- At the same time, we have maintained the seat count of slower-growing provinces and ensured that no province becomes underrepresented as a result of the legislation.
- 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.
Q: Why is Ontario, Alberta, and BC receiving fewer seats than under Bill C-12, which was introduced in the previous Parliament?
A: The formula in the bill introduced in the last Parliament was based on population information that is now out-of-date. The Fair Representation Act respects the basic tenets of our previously introduced legislation, but builds on it by ensuring every province moves towards representation by population.
