Representation in the house of commons: a long term proposal.

• Author: Gussow, David
• Position: Report

On December 16, 2011 Bill C-20 An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and the Canada Elections Act received Royal Assent (now Chapter 26 of the Statutes of Canada, 2011). It increased the number of seats in the House of Commons from 308 to 338 by giving extra seats to Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. While representation in the House of Commons is now settled for at least a decade the issue of representation by population will arise again as mandated in section 52 of the Constitution Act, 1867 and protected in section 42 of the Constitution Act, 1982. This article makes a number of suggestions for the next time rep by pop is debated in Canada. Among other things it calls for improved provisions for the smaller provinces, a new mechanism for adjusting the Electoral Quotient and future constitutional negotiations to deal with problems that have developed over the years.

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Section 51 of the Constitution Act 1867 provides that the number of members of the House of Commons and the representation of the provinces therein shall be readjusted on the completion of each decennial census, according to a number of rules. Rule 1 calculates the initial seat allocation for all the provinces strictly according to representation by population. Rule 2 adds seats to the provincial numbers based on two minimums: the "Senate Floor" (no less than the number of senators) and the "Grandfather Clause" (no less than the 1976 numbers). Rules 3 and 4 add seats to any province that was previously overrepresented such that it will not become underrepresented. Rule 5 provides that more accurate provincial population estimates are to be used in the calculation rather than the actual census figures. And rule 6 sets out an electoral quotient (constituency size) for rule 1 and provides for a specific method of recalculation every ten years.

Protecting the Smaller Provinces

The "Grandfather Clause" which was enacted in 1985 guaranteed each province no fewer seats than it had in 1976 to protect the smaller provinces. The 1976 seats were based on the census figures of 1971 with a formula that was a compromise proposal following a period of minority government enacted in 1974. The 1974 provision was found to be unworkable after just one readjustment of representation. In other words the last time we had a "true" reflection of the correct proportions was based on the 1961 census--over 50 years ago.

The 1985 formula when looked at from our current vantage point had done two things. It prevented the faster growing provinces from reaching their fair proportion of representation and also prevented the slower growing provinces from having a fairer proportion of representation among themselves. The Fair Representation Bill addressed only one of the matters resulting from the 1985 formula--the proportionality for the larger provinces. The aspect which was not addressed was the proportionality among the slower growing provinces.

The most striking example of the unfairness of the "Grandfather Clause" is with the provinces of Nova Scotia and Manitoba. One need only look at the Backgrounder that was provided by the government when announcing their proposal for Bill C-20. There is a...