112-635: Okanagan Boundary was a federal electoral district in British Columbia , Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1979. This riding was created in 1952 from parts of Kamloops and Yale ridings. It was abolished in 1976 when it was redistributed into Fraser Valley East , Kootenay West , Okanagan North and Okanagan—Similkameen ridings. Electoral district (Canada) An electoral district in Canada
224-417: A "liberal order" in northern North America. Many Canadian historians have adopted McKay's liberal order framework as a paradigm for understanding Canadian history. In 2008, historian Andrew Smith advanced a very different view of Confederation's ideological origins. He argues that in the four original Canadian provinces, the politics of taxation were a central issue in the debate about Confederation. Taxation
336-606: A Father of Confederation. As well, Joey Smallwood referred to himself as "the Last Father of Confederation" because he helped lead Newfoundland into the union in 1949. All the former colonies and territories that became involved in the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, were initially part of New France , and were once ruled by France . Nova Scotia was granted in 1621 to Sir William Alexander under charter by James I . This claim overlapped
448-406: A battle between a staunch individualist economic philosophy and a comparatively collectivist view of the state's proper role in the economy. According to Smith, the victory of the statist supporters of Confederation over their anti-statist opponents prepared the way for John A. Macdonald 's government to enact the protectionist National Policy and to subsidize major infrastructure projects such as
560-606: A champagne lunch on board the Victoria where Mr. McGee's wit sparkled brightly as the wine), they carried the Lower Province delegates a little off their feet." The delegates from the Quebec conference considered if the resolutions would be better suited for acceptance if a popular vote were held on them. However, due to the divide amongst religious groups and general mistrust between areas in Canada, they believed that such
672-481: A district at each election. In the case of Ontario , Toronto in 1886 and 1890 was a multi-member provincial district. Limited voting was used to ensure mixed representation and voter satisfaction. From 1908 to 1914, the four Toronto districts elected two MLAs each. With just a few exceptions, voters in multiple-member districts were able to cast as many votes as there were seats in the district ( block voting ). Usually, under block voting, one single party took all
784-498: A few variances from federal boundaries. The ward boundaries of Toronto City Council also correspond to federal electoral district boundaries, although they are numbered rather than using the federal names. Elections Canada is the independent body set up by Parliament to oversee Canadian federal elections , while each province and territory has its own separate elections agency to oversee the provincial and territorial elections. Originally, most electoral districts were equivalent to
896-580: A mere conglomeration of arbitrary and random groups of individuals. Districts should, as much as possible, be cohesive units with common interests related to representation. This makes a representative's job of articulating the interests of his or her constituency much easier." Instead, in the final report that was passed by the House of Commons, the Sudbury area's existing ridings of Sudbury and Nickel Belt were retained with only minor boundary adjustments, while
1008-580: A new map that would have seen the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside each gain one additional seat, with two fewer seats allocated to rural areas of the province. The alternate map gave every incumbent member of the governing party a "safe" seat to run in, while the original report would have forced some of the party's MLAs to compete against each other in nomination contests. The unequal size of electoral districts across Canada has sometimes given rise to discussion of whether all Canadians enjoy equal democratic representation by population . For example,
1120-400: A riding's name may be changed without a boundary adjustment. This usually happens when it is determined at a later date that the existing name is not sufficiently representative of the district's geographic boundaries. This is the only circumstance in which a sitting MP's riding name may change between elections. The number of electoral districts for first federal election in 1867 were set by
1232-564: A rural resident may not even be able to call their federal or provincial representative's constituency offices without incurring long-distance calling charges. Further, a rural politician who represents dozens of geographically dispersed small towns must normally incur much greater travel expenses, being forced to drive for several hours, or even to travel by air, in order to visit parts of their own district—and may even need to maintain more than one constituency office in order to properly represent all of their constituents. In Ontario, for example,
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#17327905045361344-626: A vote would be defeated. Thus, they went ahead with the resolutions on their own volition. After returning home from the Charlottetown Conference, Macdonald asked Viscount Monck , the Governor-General of the Province of Canada to invite delegates from the three Maritime provinces and Newfoundland to a conference with United Canada delegates. At the opening of the conference, a total of 33 delegates were included from
1456-601: Is a federation , rather than a confederate association of sovereign states, which is what confederation means in contemporary political theory. The country, though, is often considered to be among the world's more decentralized federations. Use of the term confederation arose in the Province of Canada to refer to proposals beginning in the 1850s to federate all of the British North American colonies, as opposed to only Canada West (now Ontario) and Canada East (now Quebec). To contemporaries of Confederation,
1568-578: Is a geographical constituency upon which Canada 's representative democracy is based. It is officially known in Canadian French as a circonscription but frequently called a comté ( county ). In Canadian English it is also colloquially and more commonly known as a riding or constituency . Each federal electoral district returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of Canada ; each provincial or territorial electoral district returns one representative—called, depending on
1680-497: Is an English term denoting a sub-division of a county. In some of Canada's earliest censuses , in fact, some citizens in the Ontario ridings of Bothwell , Cardwell , Monck and Niagara listed their electoral district as their "county" of residence instead of their actual county. Although the term "riding" is no longer used officially to indicate an electoral district, it has passed into common usage. Soon after Confederation ,
1792-414: Is determined, an independent election boundaries commission in each province reviews the existing boundaries and proposes adjustments. Public input is then sought, which may then lead to changes in the final boundary proposal. For instance, the proposed boundaries may not accurately reflect a community's historical, political or economic relationship with its surrounding region; the community would thus advise
1904-404: Is generally known as a riding association ; the legal term is electoral district association or EDA. While electoral districts at both the federal and provincial levels are now exclusively single-member districts , multiple-member districts have been used in the past. The federal riding of Ottawa elected two members from 1872 to 1933. The federal riding of Halifax elected two members from
2016-401: Is known Cartier and Macdonald presented arguments in favour of a union of the three colonies, Alexander Tilloch Galt presented the Province of Canada's proposals on the financial arrangements of such a union, and George Brown presented a proposal for what form a united government might take. The Canadian delegation's proposal for the governmental system involved: Other proposals attractive to
2128-414: Is no longer employed in the other provinces and territories. Electoral district boundaries are adjusted to reflect population changes after each decennial census . Depending on the significance of a boundary change, an electoral district's name may change as well. Any adjustment of electoral district boundaries is official as of the date the changes are legislated, but is not put into actual effect until
2240-510: Is of the utmost importance to have that principle recognized so that we shall have a sovereign who is placed above the region of party—to whom all parties look up; who is not elevated by the action of one party nor depressed by the action of another; who is the common head and sovereign of all. Following the Quebec Conference, the Province of Canada's legislature passed a bill approving the union. The union proved more controversial in
2352-621: Is produced, it is then submitted to Parliament, MPs may offer objections to the boundaries, but the boundary commissions are not compelled to make any changes as a result of the objections. At Canadian Confederation , the boundaries were defined by the Constitution Act, 1867 . Boundaries for one or more electoral districts were updated in 1872, 1882, 1892, 1903, 1914, 1924, 1933, and 1947. Subsequent changes are known as Representation Order , and occurred in 1952, 1966, 1976, 1987, 1996, 2003, 2013 and 2023. Such changes come into force "on
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#17327905045362464-700: Is the remnants of the Hudson's Bay Company 's Columbia District and New Caledonia District following the Oregon Treaty . Before joining Canada in 1871, British Columbia consisted of the separate Colony of British Columbia (formed in 1858, in an area where the Crown had granted a monopoly to the Hudson's Bay Company), and the Colony of Vancouver Island (formed in 1849) constituting a separate crown colony until it
2576-531: The Constitution Act, 1867 on the principle of representation by population. The Act provided Quebec a minimum of 65 seats and seat allotment for the remainder of the country was based by dividing the average population of Quebec's 65 electoral districts to determine the number of seats for other provinces. The Act also specified that distribution and boundary reviews should occur after each 10 year census. The boundaries for Quebec's seats were based on
2688-906: The 49th parallel as the border with the United States from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains in Western Canada. Following the Rebellions of 1837 , Lord Durham in his Durham Report , recommended Upper and Lower Canada be joined as the Province of Canada and the new province should have a responsible government . As a result of Durham's report, the British Parliament passed the Act of Union 1840 , and
2800-545: The Alaska Purchase of March 30, 1867, which had been supported in the U.S. Senate (by Charles Sumner, among others) precisely in terms of taking the remainder of North America from the British. The American Civil War had also horrified Canadians and turned many from the thought of republicanism. In Britain, political pressure came from financiers who had lost money by investing in the failed Grand Trunk Railway and
2912-517: The Confederation). The term is also used to divide Canadian history into pre-Confederation and post-Confederation periods. The original Fathers of Confederation are those delegates who attended any of the conferences held at Charlottetown and Quebec in 1864 or in London, United Kingdom, in 1866, leading to Confederation. There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation; Hewitt Bernard , who
3024-592: The Courrier du Canada . Two years later, Alexander Tilloch Galt , George-Étienne Cartier , and John Ross travelled to the United Kingdom to present the British Parliament with a project for confederation of the British colonies. The proposal was received by the London authorities with polite indifference. The royal tour of British North America undertaken by Queen Victoria's son, Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII ) in 1860, however, helped lead to
3136-525: The Intercolonial and Pacific Railways. In 2007, political scientist Janet Ajzenstat connected Canadian Confederation to the individualist ideology of John Locke . She argued that the union of the British North American colonies was motivated by a desire to protect individual rights, especially the rights to life, liberty, and property. She contends the Fathers of Confederation were motivated by
3248-672: The London Resolutions , the conference's decisions were forwarded to the Colonial Office . After breaking for Christmas, the delegates reconvened in January 1867 and began drafting the British North America Act . The 4th Earl of Carnarvon continued to have a central role in drafting the act at Highclere Castle alongside the first prime minister of Canada Macdonald, Cartier and Galt, who signed
3360-603: The con- prefix indicated a strengthening of the centrist principle compared to the American federation. In this Canadian context, confederation describes the political process that united the colonies in 1867, events related to that process, and the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. The word is now often used to describe Canada in an abstract way, such as in "the Fathers of Confederation"; provinces that became part of Canada after 1867 are also said to have joined, or entered into, Confederation (but not
3472-594: The counties used for local government, hence the French unofficial term comté . However, it became common, especially in Ontario, to divide counties with sufficient population into multiple electoral divisions. The Constitution Act, 1867 , which created the electoral map for Ontario for the first federal and provincial general elections, used the term "ridings" to describe districts which were sub-divisions of counties. The word " riding ", from Old English *þriðing "one-third" (compare farthing , literally "one-fourth"),
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3584-408: The little Englander philosophy fed a desire to withdraw troops from Britain's colonies. There is extensive scholarly debate on the role of political ideas in Canadian Confederation. Traditionally, historians regarded Canadian Confederation an exercise in political pragmatism that was essentially non-ideological. In the 1960s, historian Peter Waite derided the references to political philosophers in
3696-406: The urban population grew—and more importantly, most city dwellers gained the franchise after property ownership was no longer required to gain the vote. Rural constituencies therefore became geographically larger through the 20th century and generally encompassed one or more counties each, and the word "riding" became used to refer to any electoral division. A political party's local organization
3808-469: The "Senate floor", a province's number of seats in the House of Commons can never be lower than the province's representation in the Senate . Under the " grandfather clause ", the province's number of seats can also never fall below the number of seats it had in the 43rd Canadian Parliament (2019–2021). Under the "representation rule", no province that had a higher share of seats than its population share in
3920-453: The 1800s to 1966. The federal riding of Victoria elected two members from 1872 to 1903. As well, eight other federal ridings elected multiple (two) members at different times. As well, every province plus the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories at one time or another used multi-seat districts. The use of multi-member districts usually led to the use of plurality block voting but occasionally other forms of voting were used in
4032-457: The 2012 redistribution process, especially to a proposal which would have divided the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, the city's primary gay village , between the existing riding of Toronto Centre and a new riding of Mount Pleasant along the length of Wellesley Street . In the final report, the northern boundary of Toronto Centre was shifted north to Charles Street. Once the final report
4144-480: The 65 seats Canada East had held in the Parliament of the Province of Canada , prior to Confederation, while the boundaries for Ontario's 82 seats were set by the Constitution Act, 1867 . The present formula for adjusting electoral boundaries was adopted in 2022. It starts by calculating an "electoral quotient", based on the average of the growth rate of the provinces since the time of the last redistribution,
4256-623: The British North American Colonies, including Newfoundland, which had not participated in prior meetings. Monck obliged and the Conference went ahead at Quebec City in October 1864. The Conference began on October 10, 1864, on the site of present-day Montmorency Park. The Conference elected Étienne-Paschal Taché as its chairman, but it was dominated by Macdonald. Despite differences in the positions of some of
4368-464: The British government in London, where Brown received "a most gracious answer to our constitutional scheme". He also met with William Gladstone—who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer and, later, Prime Minister—"who agreed in almost everything". In April 1865, Brown, Macdonald, Cartier and Galt met with the government and found "the project of a federal union of the colonies was highly approved of by
4480-521: The Canadian House of Commons but 130 in its provincial legislature. For the 1999 Ontario general election , however, the government of Mike Harris passed legislation which mandated that seats in the provincial legislature would follow federal electoral district boundaries, both reducing the size of the legislature and eliminating the cost of the province conducting its own boundary adjustment process. After each federal boundary adjustment, seats in
4592-469: The Charlottetown Conference varied among the different newspapers. In the Maritimes, there was concern that the smooth Canadians with their sparkling champagne and charming speeches were outsmarting the delegates of the smaller provinces. "From all accounts it looks as if these [Canadian] gentlemen had it all their own way; ... and that, what with their arguments and what with their blandishments, (they gave
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4704-740: The Colonies ; the Prince's comments and critiques were later cited by both the Earl of Durham and participants of the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences . Lord Durham presented his idea of unification in 1839 Report on the Affairs of British North America , which resulted in the Act of Union 1840. Beginning in 1857, Joseph-Charles Taché proposed a federation in a series of 33 articles published in
4816-721: The French claims to Acadia , and although the Scottish colony of Nova Scotia was short-lived, for political reasons, the conflicting imperial interests of France and the 18th century Great Britain led to a long and bitter struggle for control. The British acquired present-day mainland Nova Scotia by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 and the Acadian population was expelled by the British in 1755. They renamed Acadia "Nova Scotia", which included present-day New Brunswick . The rest of New France
4928-475: The Liberal Trudeau government tabled legislation to prevent Quebec (or any other province) from losing any seats relative to the number of seats it was apportioned in 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution . Bill C-14 amended Rule 2 of subsection 51(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 , commonly known as the "Grandfather Clause". The Bill passed the House of Commons on June 15, 2022, passed
5040-521: The Maritime provinces, however, and it was not until 1866 that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia passed union resolutions, while Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland continued to opt against joining. In December 1866, sixteen delegates from the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia travelled to London, where the Earl of Carnarvon presented each to Queen Victoria in private audience , as well as holding court for their wives and daughters. To
5152-418: The Maritimes, when he had gone down earlier that summer with a trade mission of Canadian businessmen, journalists and politicians. George Brown remarked in a letter to his wife Anne that at a party given by the premier of PEI, Colonel John Hamilton Gray, he met a woman who had never been off the island in her entire life. Nevertheless, he found Prince Edward Islanders to be "amazingly civilized". Reaction to
5264-673: The Nova Scotian delegates, the Queen said, "I take the deepest interest in [Confederation], for I believe it will make [the provinces] great and prosperous." At meetings held at the Westminster Palace Hotel, the delegates reviewed and approved the 72 resolutions; although Charles Tupper had promised anti-union forces in Nova Scotia he would push for amendments, he was unsuccessful in getting any passed. Now known as
5376-494: The Province of Canada was formed in 1841. The new province was divided into two parts: Canada West (the former Upper Canada) and Canada East (the former Lower Canada). Governor General Lord Elgin granted ministerial responsibility in 1848, first to Nova Scotia and then to Canada. In the following years, the British would extend responsible government to Prince Edward Island (1851), New Brunswick (1854), and Newfoundland (1855). The area constituting modern-day British Columbia
5488-568: The Province of Canada, and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The province of Prince Edward Island , which had hosted the first meeting to consider Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference , did not join Confederation until 1873. Over the years since Confederation, Canada has seen numerous territorial changes and expansions, resulting in the current number of ten provinces and three territories . Canada
5600-475: The Province of Canada. The Charlottetown Conference began on September 1, 1864. Since the agenda for the meeting had already been set, the delegation from the Province of Canada was initially not an official part of the Conference. The issue of Maritime Union was deferred and the Canadians were formally allowed to join and address the Conference. No minutes from the Charlottetown Conference survive, but it
5712-453: The Senate on June 21, 2022, and received royal assent on June 23, 2022. The Chief Electoral Officer announced the new allocation of seats on July 8, 2022, which would result in an increase to 343 seats. The act was introduced after a Bloc Québécois ' motion calling for government action to protect the number of Quebec's seat after redistribution. When the province's final seat allotment
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#17327905045365824-655: The Timiskaming riding was merged with Nipissing . Despite the opposition that arose to the 2003 process, however, virtually the same tripartite division of the city was proposed in the boundary adjustment of 2012, although due to concerns around balancing the Northern Ontario region's population against its geographic size, the commission announced in 2013 that it would retain the existing electoral districts again. Similarly, opposition arose in Toronto during
5936-629: The United States without taxes or tariffs, which was then considered to be beneficial for Canada) was cancelled by the United States in 1865, partly as revenge against Britain for unofficial support of the south in the American Civil War. Additionally, the U.S. doctrine of " manifest destiny " raised fears of another American invasion (Canadians had fended off American incursions during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Fenian raids , and St. Albans Raid ), only further inflamed by
6048-412: The acceptable compromise of giving Newfoundland four senators of its own when it joined. The delegates from the Maritimes also raised an issue with respect to the level of government—federal or provincial—that would be given the powers not otherwise specifically defined. Macdonald, who was aiming for the strongest central government possible, insisted this was to be the central government, and in this, he
6160-418: The boundary commission that it wished to be included in a different electoral district. For example, in the 2003 boundary adjustment, the boundary commission in Ontario originally proposed dividing the city of Greater Sudbury into three districts. The urban core would have remained largely unchanged as Sudbury , while communities west of the central city would have been merged with Algoma—Manitoulin to form
6272-470: The city were divided into one city-based riding and two large rural ones rather than two city-based ridings, while the Timiskaming District is much more strongly aligned with and connected to North Bay , to which it has a direct highway link, than to Sudbury. In a deputation to the boundary commission, Sudbury's deputy mayor Ron Dupuis stated that "An electoral district must be more than
6384-578: The contemporary governmental structure in the Province of Canada and distrust between English Protestants and French Catholics. Further, demographic pressure from an expanding population and economic nationalism wanting economic development butted against a lack of an inter-colonial railroad, which hampered trade, military movement, and transportation in general. Externally, the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty (a free trade policy, starting in 1854, whereby products were allowed into
6496-605: The continent that would become modern Canada had been in Newfoundland which would not join Confederation until 1949. The Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol began to settle Newfoundland and Labrador at Cuper's Cove as far back as 1610, and Newfoundland had also been the subject of a French colonial enterprise . In the wake of the American Revolution , an estimated 50,000 United Empire Loyalists fled to British North America . The British created
6608-492: The delegates decided to hold a second Conference. One of the most important purposes of the Charlottetown Conference was the introduction of Canadians to the leaders from the Maritime Provinces and vice versa. At this point, there was no railway link from Quebec City to Halifax, and the people of each region had little to do with one another. Thomas D'Arcy McGee was one of the few Canadian delegates who had been to
6720-569: The delegates on some issues, the Quebec Conference, following so swiftly on the success of the Charlottetown Conference, was infused with a determinative sense of purpose and nationalism . For the Reformers of Canada West, led by George Brown, the end of what they perceived as French-Canadian interference in local affairs was in sight. For Maritimers such as Tupper of Nova Scotia or Tilley of New Brunswick, horizons were suddenly broadened to take in much larger possibilities for trade and growth. On
6832-402: The district for the capital city of Charlottetown was divided into two. After 1966, however, the electoral district boundaries again remained unchanged until 1996, when the province adopted new single-member districts. Under the new model, electoral districts are now adjusted every ten years, although most adjustments are geographically modest and the district's name is sometimes, but not always,
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#17327905045366944-472: The failed Charlottetown Accord , no such rule currently exists—Quebec's seat allotment in the House of Commons is in fact governed by the same adjustment clauses as all other provinces, and not by any provisions unique to Quebec alone. However, such provisions have existed at various times in the past. From 1867 to 1946 Quebec was allocated 65 seats, with the other provinces allocated seats based on their size relative to Quebec. The "amalgam formula" of 1976 set
7056-486: The far north of the province. As a result, the province currently has 121 seats in the House of Commons, but 124 seats in the provincial legislature. When Prince Edward Island joined Confederation in 1873, it set a fixed formula in which each of the province's three counties was divided into five electoral districts per county, each of which elected two representatives to the provincial legislature. These districts were never adjusted for demographic changes, except in 1966 when
7168-483: The federal ones; in the Northern Ontario region, however, because the region's slower growth would result in the gradual loss of seats compared to the more rapidly growing south, most districts still retain the same boundaries as the federal districts that were in place as of 2003, and are not readjusted to correspond to current federal boundaries. For the 2018 Ontario general election , further, two new uniquely provincial districts were added to increase representation for
7280-423: The first dissolution of Parliament that occurs at least seven months after the day on which that proclamation was issued". The boundary adjustment processes for electoral districts in provincial or territorial legislative assemblies follow provincial or territorial, rather than federal, law; they are overseen by each province's or territory's own election agency rather than by Elections Canada, and legislated by
7392-476: The first subsequent election. Thus, an electoral district may officially cease to exist, but will continue to be represented status quo in the House of Commons until the next election is called. This, for example, gives new riding associations time to organize, and prevents the confusion that would result from changing elected MPs' electoral district assignments in the middle of a Parliament. On some occasions (e.g., Timiskaming—French River , Toronto—Danforth ),
7504-543: The four federal electoral districts in Prince Edward Island have an average size of just 33,963 voters each, while federal electoral districts in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have an average size of over 125,000 voters each—only slightly smaller, in fact, than the entire population of Prince Edward Island. Conversely, pure representation by population creates distinct disadvantages for some Canadians, giving rise to frequent debate about how to balance
7616-510: The highest annual expense budgets among members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario are consistently filed by the representatives for Mushkegowuk—James Bay and Kiiwetinoong , the province's two largest and northernmost electoral districts; both must spend far more on travel to and from Toronto, travel within their own ridings and additional support staff in multiple communities within their ridings than any other legislator in
7728-464: The holdings of absentee landlords . "Never was there such an opportunity as now for the birth of a nation" proclaimed a pamphlet written by S. E. Dawson and reprinted in a Quebec City newspaper during the Conference. Again, reaction to the Quebec Conference varied depending on the political views of the critic. George Brown was the first, in December 1864, to carry the constitutional proposals to
7840-557: The idea of a Maritime Union which would join their three colonies together. The government of the Province of Canada surprised the Maritime governments by asking if the Province of Canada could be included in the negotiations. The request was channelled through the Governor-General, Monck, to London and accepted by the Colonial Office. After several years of legislative paralysis in the Province of Canada caused by
7952-412: The imperial authorities". On the form of the proposed system of governance for Canada, the Fathers of Confederation were influenced by the American republic. Macdonald said in 1865: By adhering to the monarchical principle, we avoid one defect inherent in the constitution of the United States . By the election of the president by a majority and for a short period, he never is the sovereign and chief of
8064-481: The issue of the Senate, the Maritime Provinces pressed for as much equality as possible. With the addition of Newfoundland to the Conference, the three Maritime colonies did not wish to see the strength of their provinces in the upper chamber diluted by simply adding Newfoundland to the Atlantic category. It was the matter of the Senate that threatened to derail the entire proceedings. It was Macdonald who came up with
8176-419: The last redistribution can have its share of seats drop below its population share. A province may be allocated extra seats over its base entitlement to ensure that these rules are met. In 2022, for example, Prince Edward Island would have been entitled to only two seats according to the electoral quotient, but through the senatorial clause the province gained two more seats to equal its four senators. Quebec
8288-506: The legislative assembly would henceforth be automatically realigned to match the federal boundaries at the first subsequent provincial election. Although most electoral districts in the province still conform to federal boundaries, later amendments to the 1999 legislation have reauthorized the introduction of some differences from the federal map. In the Southern Ontario region, provincial districts remain in precise alignment with
8400-418: The legislative debates on Confederation as "hot air". In Waite's view, Confederation was driven by pragmatic brokerage politics and competing interest groups. In 1987, political scientist Peter J. Smith challenged the view Canadian Confederation was non-ideological. Smith argued Confederation was motivated by new political ideologies as much as the American and French Revolutions and Canadian Confederation
8512-555: The multi-seat districts. From 1920 to 1949 Winnipeg used single transferable vote (STV) to elect 10 MLAs in a single city-wide district. And then the city was made into three four-member districts, again with the seats filled through STV. St. Boniface elected two MLAs in 1949 and 1953 through STV. Alberta had three provincial districts that at various times returned two, five, six or seven members: see Calgary , Edmonton and Medicine Hat . Prior to 1924 these seats were filled through plurality block voting but from 1924 to 1956
8624-472: The nation. He is never looked up to by the whole people as the head and front of the nation. He is, at best, but the successful leader of a party. This defect is all the greater on account of the practice of reelection. During his first term of office, he is employed in taking steps to secure his own reelection and, for his party, a continuance of power. We avoid this by adhering to the monarchical principle—the sovereign, whom you respect and love. I believe that it
8736-548: The need to maintain a double legislative majority (a majority of both the Canada East and Canada West delegates in the Province of Canada's legislature), Macdonald had led his Liberal-Conservative Party into the Great Coalition with Cartier's Parti bleu and George Brown 's Clear Grits . Macdonald, Cartier, and Brown felt union with the other British colonies might be a way to solve the political problems of
8848-424: The new riding of Greater Sudbury—Manitoulin, and those east and north of the central city would have been merged with Timiskaming to create the riding of Timiskaming—Greater Sudbury. Due to the region's economic and transportation patterns, however, "Timiskaming—Greater Sudbury" was particularly opposed by its potential residents — voters in Sudbury were concerned about the weakening of their representation if
8960-400: The number of Quebec seats to 75, which was to be increased by 4 after each decennial census. Other "large" provinces (over 2.5 million) would be assigned seats based on their relative population to Quebec. The amalgam formula was applied only once, based on the 1971 census. After the 1981 census it was realized that adding an additional four seats to Quebec every ten years would rapidly inflate
9072-428: The only substantive change that actually occurs. Because electoral district boundaries are proposed by an arms-length body , rather than directly by political parties themselves, gerrymandering is not generally seen as an issue in Canada. However, in 2006 the provincial government of Prince Edward Island was accused of gerrymandering after it rejected the independent boundary commission's report and instead proposed
9184-400: The other clauses. The 2012 redistribution , which added three new seats in Quebec under the newly added representation rule, was the first and so far only time since 1985 that any of the other seven provinces had ever gained new seats. Some sources incorrectly state that a special provision guaranteeing a certain number of seats to Quebec is also applied. While such a provision was proposed in
9296-408: The political system. Queen Victoria remarked on "the impossibility of our being able to hold Canada; but, we must struggle for it; and by far the best solution would be to let it go as an independent kingdom under an English prince." Several factors influenced Confederation, caused both by internal sources and pressures from external sources. Internally, there was political deadlock resulting from
9408-625: The politicians from the Maritime colonies were: By September 7, 1864, the delegates from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island gave a positive answer to the Canadian delegation, expressing the view the federation of all of the provinces was considered desirable if the terms of union could be made satisfactory and the question of Maritime Union was waived. After the Conference adjourned on September 9, there were further meetings between delegates held at Halifax , Saint John , and Fredericton . These meetings evinced enough interest that
9520-587: The population size of electoral districts against their geographic size. Whereas urban districts, such as Toronto Centre , Vancouver Centre or Papineau , may be as small as 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi) or less, more rural districts, such as Timmins-James Bay , Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou or Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River may encompass tens or hundreds of thousands of square kilometres. Thus, while Canadians who reside in major urban centres typically live within walking distance of their federal or provincial representatives' constituency offices,
9632-496: The post or plurality block voting ). The only exception were the 1952 and 1953 elections, when instant-runoff voting was used. In the case of multi-member districts, separate contests were used to elect separate MLAs in the same district. Prince Edward Island had dual-member districts at the provincial level from Confederation to the 1996 election . In the case of New Brunswick , between 1935 and 1974, some ridings were multi member districts, electing more than one MLA in
9744-409: The previous redistribution's electoral quotient is then multiplied by this average, and then the population of each individual province is divided by this electoral quotient then rounded up to determine the number of seats to which the province is officially entitled. Additionally, one seat is automatically allocated to each of Canada's three territories. Finally, a few special rules are applied. Under
9856-482: The process results in most provinces maintaining the same number of seats from one redistribution to the next, due to the senatorial and grandfather clauses—prior to the 2015 election , only Ontario , Alberta and British Columbia , traditionally the country's three fastest-growing provinces, had ever gained seats in a redistribution. All other provinces still held the same number of seats that they held in 1985, and were thus already protected from losing even one seat by
9968-550: The province losing clout in Ottawa if its proportion of seats in the House of Commons were reduced; finally, three new seats were allotted to Quebec as well. The measure did not pass before the 2011 election was called, but was put forward again after the election. It was passed on December 16, 2011 as the Fair Representation Act (Bill C-20), and resulted in the 2012 redistribution process. On March 24, 2022,
10080-798: The province or territory, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) or Member of the House of Assembly (MHA)—to the provincial or territorial legislature. Since 2015, there have been 338 federal electoral districts in Canada. In provincial and territorial legislatures, the provinces and territories each set their own number of electoral districts independently of their federal representation. The province of Ontario currently defines most of its provincial electoral districts to align with federal boundaries; no other province does so, and even Ontario maintains
10192-440: The province. A 2017 study found, that 41 of the 338 federal ridings, have populations where visible minorities /Non Whites form the majority of the riding. Ontario and British Columbia have the largest number of ridings where visible minorities form the majority. Quebec has the most ridings with less than 5% visible minorities. Confederation (Canada) Canadian Confederation (French: Confédération canadienne )
10304-424: The provincial legislature rather than the federal parliament. Each province is free to decide its own number of legislative assembly seats, and is not required to comply with the federal quotas that govern its number of parliamentary districts. Prior to 1999, provincial electoral districts were defined independently of federal districts; at the time of the 1995 Ontario general election , the province had 103 seats in
10416-522: The seats in the district. STV was used in Alberta and Manitoba multi-member districts from 1920s to 1950s. STV almost always produced mixed representation with no one-party sweep. As mentioned, limited voting was used in Toronto when it was a multi-member district. IRV was used in all BC districts including the multi-member districts, in 1952 and 1953. This voting system ensured that the winner had
10528-516: The seats were filled through single transferable voting (STV). Saskatchewan used multi-member provincial districts in Saskatoon , Regina and Moose Jaw , from 1920 to 1967. These seats were filled through multiple non-transferable vote . British Columbia provincially had a mix of multiple-member districts and single-member districts at the provincial level from 1871 to the 1991 election . Members were elected through plurality ( first past
10640-578: The separate province of New Brunswick in 1784 for the Loyalists who settled in the western part of Nova Scotia. While Nova Scotia (including New Brunswick) received slightly more than half of this influx, many Loyalists also settled in the Province of Quebec, which by the Constitutional Act 1791 was separated into a predominantly English Upper Canada and a predominantly French Lower Canada . The War of 1812 and Treaty of 1818 established
10752-659: The size of the House of Commons, so that formula was abandoned in favour of the 1985 Representation Act . In 2008 the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed an amendment to the process which would have given Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, the three provinces whose electoral districts have an average size larger than those in Quebec, a total of 32 additional seats by applying Quebec's average of 105,000. The measure initially included only British Columbia and Alberta; Harper later proposed an alternative plan which included Ontario. However, opposition then emerged in Quebec, where politicians expressed concern about
10864-615: The support of a majority of votes in each contest but did nothing to create proportionality. Electoral district names are usually geographic in nature, and chosen to represent the community or region within the electoral district boundaries. Some electoral districts in Quebec are named for historical figures rather than geography, e.g., Louis-Hébert , Honoré-Mercier . Similarly in Alberta, provincial districts mix geographic names with those of historical personages (e.g., Edmonton-Decore after Laurence Decore , Calgary-Lougheed after Peter Lougheed and James Alexander Lougheed ). This practice
10976-501: The unification of the colonies by confirming a common bond between their inhabitants; indeed, the monarchy played a "pivotal legal and symbolic role [...] in cementing the new Canadian union". Further, by 1864, it was clear that continued governance of the Province of Canada under the terms of the 1840 Act of Union had become impracticable. Therefore, a grand coalition of parties, the Great Coalition , formed in order to reform
11088-558: The values of the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. She argues their intellectual debts to Locke are most evident when one looks at the 1865 debates in the Province of Canada's legislature on whether or not union with the other British North American colonies would be desirable. In the spring of 1864, New Brunswick premier Samuel Leonard Tilley , Nova Scotia premier Charles Tupper , and Prince Edward Island premier John Hamilton Gray were contemplating
11200-530: The visitor book in 1866. After suggestions of 'Franklin' and 'Guelfenland', they agreed the new country should be called Canada , Canada East should be renamed Quebec and Canada West should be renamed Ontario . There was, however, heated debate about how the new country should be designated. Ultimately, the delegates elected to call the new country the Dominion of Canada, after "kingdom" and "confederation", among other options, were rejected. The term dominion
11312-545: The whole thing is, or more perfectly", going on to suggest a unified Canada consisting of two provinces—one formed from Upper and Lower Canada and the other from the Maritime colonies—each with a lieutenant governor and executive council, one located in Montreal and the other in either Annapolis Royal or Windsor . Edward said he would pass the report on to the Earl Bathurst , the then- Secretary of State for War and
11424-597: Was acquired by the British as the result of its defeat of New France in the Seven Years' War , which ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. From 1763 to 1791, most of New France became the Province of Quebec . However, in 1769 the present-day Prince Edward Island , which had been part of Acadia, was renamed "St John's Island" and organized as a separate colony. It was renamed "Prince Edward Island" in 1798 in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn . The first English attempt at settlement on that part of
11536-564: Was allegedly suggested by Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley. The delegates had completed their draft of the British North America Act by February 1867. The act was presented to Queen Victoria on February 11, 1867. The bill was introduced in the House of Lords the next day. The bill was quickly approved by the House of Lords, and then also quickly approved by the British House of Commons . (The Conservative Lord Derby
11648-558: Was also central to the debate in Newfoundland, the tax-averse colony that rejected it. Smith argued Confederation was supported by many colonists who were sympathetic to a relatively interventionist, or statist, approach to capitalist development. Most classical liberals, who believed in free trade and low taxes, opposed Confederation because they feared it would result in Big Government. The struggle over Confederation involved
11760-525: Was being floated as early as 1814. That year, Chief Justice of Lower Canada Jonathan Sewell sent a copy of his report, A Plan for the federal Union of British Provinces in North America , to Prince Edward (both a son of King George III and the father of Queen Victoria ), whom Sewell had befriended when they both resided in Quebec City . Edward replied, "nothing can be better arranged than
11872-544: Was driven by a Court Party ideology. Smith traces the origins of this ideology to eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain, where political life was polarized between defenders of classical republican values of the Country Party and proponents of a new pro-capitalist ideology of the Court Party, which believed in centralizing political power. In British North America in the late 1860s, the Court Party tradition
11984-438: Was only entitled to 71 seats by the electoral quotient alone, but through the grandfather clause the province gained seven seats to equal the 78 seats it had in the 43rd Parliament. Saskatchewan and Manitoba also gained seats under the grandfather clause, New Brunswick gained seats under the senatorial clause, and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador gained seats under the grandfather and senate clauses. In practice,
12096-486: Was represented by the supporters of Confederation, whereas the anti-capitalist and agrarian Country Party tradition was embodied by the Anti-Confederates. In a 2000 journal article, historian Ian McKay argued Canadian Confederation was motivated by the ideology of liberalism and the belief in the supremacy of individual rights. McKay described Confederation as part of the classical liberal project of creating
12208-491: Was supported by, among others, Tupper. At the end of the Conference, it adopted the " seventy-two resolutions " which would form the basis of a scheduled future conference. The Conference adjourned on October 27. Prince Edward Island emerged disappointed from the Quebec Conference. It did not receive support for a guarantee of six members in the proposed House of Commons, and was denied an appropriation of $ 200,000 it felt had been offered at Charlottetown to assist in buying out
12320-533: Was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada , Nova Scotia , and New Brunswick —were united into one federation , called the Dominion of Canada , on July 1, 1867. This process occurred in accordance with the rising tide of Canadian nationalism that was then beginning to swell within these provinces and others. Upon Confederation, Canada consisted of four provinces: Ontario and Quebec , which had been split out from
12432-403: Was the recording secretary at the Charlottetown Conference , is considered by some to be among them. The individuals who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as Fathers of Confederation . In this way, Amor De Cosmos , who was instrumental both in bringing democracy to British Columbia and in bringing the province into Confederation, is considered to be
12544-549: Was united with the colony of British Columbia in 1866. The remainder of modern-day Canada was made up of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory (both of which were controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company and sold to Canada in 1870) and the Arctic Islands , which were under direct British control and became a part of Canada in 1880. The idea of joining the various colonies in North America
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