Quebec electoral commission goes ahead with redistricting plan

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QUEBEC — Quebec’s electoral representation commission intends to continue its electoral redistribution work, regardless of demands from the three opposition parties in the National Assembly that it save ridings slated to be merged.

On Monday, the Parti Québécois joined its voice to that of the Quebec Liberal Party and Québec solidaire to call for a suspension of work in order to review the law.

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The opposition parties say they are dissatisfied with the Commission de la représentation électorale’s proposal to eliminate the constituencies of Gaspé and Anjou to create two new ones in Centre-du-Québec and the Laurentians.

No matter, “the commissioners wish to continue their work, while the criteria provided for by the Electoral Act are legitimate and democratic,” spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud-Drolet said on Monday.

“The electoral map delimitation process must be independent and impartial and political intervention at this stage could compromise these principles.

“Moreover, keeping the current map until 2030 is not an acceptable avenue in the eyes of the commissioners, since significant inequities in representation are already present and will only become more pronounced over the years.”

The current law provides for a revision of the electoral map in Quebec after two general elections, since population movements create inequalities in representation.

This revision is carried out so that Quebec is divided into 125 constituencies of approximately 51,000 voters which have, as much as possible, common characteristics.

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The only exception is the riding of Îles-de-la-Madeleine (with only 11,176 electors), protected by law. But the commission can make other exceptions, which it did in six other ridings in 2017, all in northern and eastern regions of the province, including two on the Gaspé Peninsula.

According to the commission, the Gaspé riding has the third-lowest population, 40 per cent below the average with only 30,131 electors as of April 30, 2023. The neighbouring Bonaventure riding is only slightly better, with 35,898 electors, 30 per cent below the average. Two ridings in eastern Montreal — Viau and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve — are 20 per cent below the average with about 40,000 electors each.

Meanwhile, Quebec has 16 ridings with a number of electors at least 20 per cent above the average. The biggest is Brome-Missisquoi in the Estrie region with 67,440 electors.

“If elected officials wish to review the delimitation criteria, the Commission de la représentation électorale suggests doing so outside of the current delimitation process,” St-Arnaud-Drolet said.

Last month, in a parliamentary committee, the new electoral map was denounced by all the opposition parties and by CAQ elected officials.

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Many deplored that the Gaspésie region was gradually losing its political weight, and that the size of its constituencies was becoming disproportionate.

“Leave Gaspésie alone,” Liberal MNA Enrico Ciccone even told the commissioners, before his party demanded that their work be put on “pause.”

The Liberals propose to keep the current electoral map for the 2026 election and to begin a reflection on the criteria to be taken into account to establish the next map.

“After hearing all the stakeholders, it is obvious that the elimination of these two constituencies would be a serious error,” PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said on Monday.

According to him, the current law is “outdated, in particular because it limits the number of MNAs to 125 to represent a population that now exceeds 9 million.”

“The only solution is therefore to reopen the law to add seats, ensuring that no region of Quebec loses its representativeness,” he argued on X, formerly Twitter.

St-Pierre Plamondon said he was waiting for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) to give its support “so that the 2026 election takes place with the same electoral map as 2022 and that a reform project … is studied.”

“The survival of the ridings in Gaspésie and Eastern Montreal depends on it,” he concluded. Last Friday, the CAQ said it was open to discussion, without however clearly endorsing the Liberal proposal.

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