Parliament is going to look a little different for the next election in 2015. There will 30 new seats added to the House of Commons, increasing the current number of 308 up to 338. The legislation, dubbed The Fair Representation Act, is an attempt to balance under-represented and over-represented provinces.
Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta are currently under-represented with their fast-growing populations. Ontario will get 15 new seats, B.C. and Alberta will each get 6, and Quebec will get 3. The new addition of seats will increase the cost of elections by 11.5 million and increase the budget for the House of Commons by 14.8 million annually.
The Liberals are concerned about adding 30 new seats during tight economic times, but sceptical of the solution to the under representation in general. Bob Rae asked, “Is it really sensible for us to be increasing the overall size of the House of Commons every time we have a new census? The National Assembly of France doesn’t do it. The British House of Commons doesn’t do it. The American House of Representatives doesn’t do it.”
The calculation that these new seats are based on is rather simple: each riding in Canada should represent about 111,000 people, according to the Conservative government.
The redrawing of Canada’s electoral map won’t happen until after the bill is passed, and will be done by independent commissions appointed by chief justices in the provinces. The commissions will hold public hearings and consult with sitting MPs.
This is the third attempt by Stephen Harper’s government to add new seats into the Commons, and now with a majority, the bill is expected to pass as early as the end of this year.
