The Canadian Study of Parliament Group (CSPG) held a seminar on “Dissecting Redistribution” on Friday, 14 April 2023, which consisted of three panels on the process of the decennial redistribution, the perspectives of four current members of various Federal Electoral Boundaries Commissions (FEBC), and another on academic perspectives. Despite what the poster says, the second panel featured Kenneth Carty (Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Commission for British Columbia), Kelly Saunders (Professor at the Department of Political Science at Brandon University and member of the Commission for Manitoba), Karen Bird (Professor of Political Science at McMaster University and member of the Commission for Ontario), and Louis Massicotte (Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Universite Laval and a member of the Commission for Quebec). The third and final panel consisted of Michael Pal (Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa), Glenn Graham (Professor of Political Studies at Cape Breton University), Remi Leger (Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University), and Tamara Small (Professor of Political Science at the University of Guelph).

I presented on the first panel alongside Andre Barnes of the Library of Parliament. I wish that we had had more time to present on the complex minutia of this process, so vital and yet so poorly understood even by MPs themselves and politicos because it happens only once every ten years. My superiors at Elections Canada gave similar but more comprehensive briefings to the caucuses of the four largest parties in 2022, at their requests, and needed close to an hour to delve into the details. But perhaps I can do so here later.

Similar Posts: 

• Readjusting Electoral Districts in Federations: Malapportionment vs Gerrymandering (August 2022)
• CSPG Conference: Paul Dewar Dodged My Question on Section 52 and Over-Representing Quebec (October 2011)
• James W.J. Bowden, “Favouring Quebec in Parliament Is Unconstitutional,” National Post, 17 October 2011
• My Column in the National Post on the New Democrats’ Unconstitutional Private Members’ Bill to Give Quebec a Fixed Proportion of Seats (October 2011)
• The New Democrats’ Anti-Constitutional Stance on Electoral Redistribution (September 2011)