Harper to give Ontario 13 more federal seats

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will award the province of Ontario an additional 13 seats in the House of Commons — half of the 26 new constituencies being proposed, the Star has learned.

Under the revised plan, which Harper discussed with Premier Dalton McGuinty last Friday, Ontario would be boosted to 119 seats from 106 in time for the 2015 federal election to reflect population growth.

In other changes, Alberta would gain six seats and jump to 34, British Columbia an additional five for a boost to 41, and Quebec another two to increase to 77.

While Ontario’s tally is lower than the 18 seats the province had been expecting, sources say McGuinty is pleased that “representation by population” is finally being recognized.

The change would increase the Commons to 334 seats from 308 today.

Sources say both McGuinty and Harper hope to alleviate any unity crisis by ensuring Quebec’s concerns about diminishing influence in Parliament are addressed.

In Toronto on Tuesday, McGuinty stressed talks have only just begun on the potentially tricky matter.

“We’re still in discussion with the feds at this point in time. I had an opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister on this score,” said McGuinty, conceding the number of new ridings “may be less than what we originally anticipated.”

“It’s directly related to information supplied by Stats Canada. So we’re looking for a formula that translates our population into the number of seats that should be there in Ottawa. So we’re waiting to see the legislation,” he said.

Insiders say both men were worried about constitutional challenges and want to help federalist Quebec Premier Jean Charest politically.

While it is not yet known exactly where the 13 additional Ontario seats would be, most are expected in and around the Greater Toronto Area, which includes some of the most populated ridings in Canada.

Insiders say Peel Region will likely be the big winner, though more seats in the 416 — especially Scarborough — are in the offing. The allocation and redrawing of ridings happens only after the legislation is passed, and can be a long, drawn-out, much-negotiated process. But it’s believed that new ridings can be in place for 2015.

In the Commons on Tuesday, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Tim Uppal, said the new legislation would be unveiled “shortly” and that it would adhere to principles of fair representation.

This reported, new proposal by Harper is different in two important ways from the federal government’s last attempts to reallocate seats in the Commons.

First, it offers seats to Quebec, even though that province hasn’t had the population increases to justify additional Commons representation. Second, it’s a reduction in the overall number of seats last offered to Ontario — though more than the first attempt, in 2007, which was roundly bashed in the province.

In Bill C-12, introduced in the last Parliament but never passed, Ontario was offered 18 new seats, while B.C. would have received seven and five extra seats would have gone to Alberta. But Quebec had complained that this new influx of seats would mean that it would have only 22 per cent of the seats in the Commons — less than its 24 per cent of the Canadian population.

The potential outrage in Quebec seems to have sent everyone back to the drawing board again on this proposed fix to the Commons.

On Tuesday, the New Democratic Party unveiled a bill that would permanently guarantee a share of seats in the Commons equal to its share of the Canadian population. And on Monday, Ontario’s Mowat Centre also released a report, urging the federal government to also offer Quebec guarantees tying its seats to its population share in Canada.

The Mowat Centre’s report is also urging a hefty increase in Ontario’s seats, arguing that citizens in GTA ridings are radically under-represented.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star