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90-604: Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman (formerly Selkirk—Interlake ) is a federal electoral district in Manitoba , Canada , that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1976 to 1987, and since 1997. The riding was a battleground between the New Democratic Party and conservative parties that has become more and more conservative as the years passed, and is now a safe Conservative Party seat. The riding

180-535: A candidate can often be elected with the support of only a minority of votes, leaving the majority of votes cast wasted, and thus a moderate winning vote of say just 34 percent repeated in several swing seats can be enough to create a landslide increase in seats won by a government. The district-by-district basis of ' First past the post voting ' elections means that parties will usually categorise and target various districts by whether they are likely to be held with ease, or winnable by extra campaigning, or written off as

270-481: 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

360-498: 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

450-411: A foregone loss hardly worth fighting for. A safe seat is one that is regarded as very unlikely to be won by a rival politician based on the constituency 's past voting record or polling results. Conversely, a marginal seat or swing seat is one that could easily swing either way, and may even have changed hands frequently in recent decades - the party that currently holds it may have only won it by

540-450: A low effective number of parties . Malta with only two major parties is a stark example of divergence from Duverger's rule. In a system where the intent is to avoid the waste of votes, a set proportion of votes, as a minimum, assures the election of a candidate. This is set as the inverse of the district magnitude plus one, plus one, the Droop quota . Droop is the mathematical threshold that

630-580: 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

720-572: A municipality. However, in the Republic of Ireland , voting districts are called local electoral areas . District magnitude is a term invented by the American political scientist Douglas W. Rae in his 1967 dissertation The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws . It refers to the number of seats assigned to each district, and thus helping determine the number of seats to be filled in any election. Staggered terms are sometimes used to reduce

810-580: 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,

900-487: A particular group has a slight majority, for instance, gerrymandering politicians can obtain 2/3 of that district's seats. Similarly, by making four-member districts in regions where the same group has slightly less than a majority, gerrymandering politicians can still secure exactly half of the seats. However, any possible gerrymandering that theoretically could occur would be much less effective because minority groups can still elect at least one representative if they make up

990-400: 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

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1080-564: 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,

1170-428: A significant percentage of the population (e.g. 20–25%), compared to single-member districts where 40–49% of the voters can be essentially shut out from any representation. Sometimes, particularly under non-proportional or winner-takes-all voting systems, elections can be prone to landslide victories . As the result in each district is not related to votes cast elsewhere and may not reflect a party's national popularity,

1260-886: A significant presence in an area. Many assemblies allow free postage (through franking privilege or prepaid envelopes) from a representative to a constituent, and often free telecommunications. Caseworkers may be employed by representatives to assist constituents with problems. Members of the U.S. Congress (both Representatives and Senators) working in Washington, D.C., have a governmentally staffed district office to aid in constituent services. Many state legislatures have followed suit. Likewise, British MPs use their Parliamentary staffing allowance to appoint staff for constituency casework. Client politics and pork barrel politics are associated with constituency work. In some elected assemblies, some or all constituencies may group voters based on some criterion other than, or in addition to,

1350-517: A slender margin and a party that wants to win it may be able to take it away from its present holder with little effort. In United Kingdom general elections and United States presidential and congressional elections, the voting in a relatively small number of swing seats usually determines the outcome of the entire election. Parties aspire to hold as many safe seats as possible, and high-level politicians, such as prime ministers, prefer to stand in safe seats. In large multi-party systems like India ,

1440-533: A small shift in election results, sometimes caused by swing votes, can lead to no party taking a majority of seats, causing a hung assembly . This may arise from a significant number of seats going to smaller regional parties instead of the larger national parties which are the main competitors at the national or state level, as was the situation in the Lok Sabha (Lower house of the Parliament of India ) during

1530-850: Is James Bezan , a former rancher who was first elected in 2004 . He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and has served as a member on the 'Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food'. Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election. Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election. 51°54′11″N 98°26′13″W  /  51.903°N 98.437°W  / 51.903; -98.437 Electoral district (Canada) An electoral district in Canada

1620-578: 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

1710-691: Is allowed to affect apportionment, with rural areas with sparse populations allocated more seats per elector: for example in Iceland, the Falkland Islands, Scottish islands, and (partly) in US Senate elections. Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries for political gain. By creating a few "forfeit" districts where opposing candidates win overwhelmingly, gerrymandering politicians can manufacture more, but narrower, wins for themselves and their party. Gerrymandering relies on

1800-497: 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 ,

1890-414: 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

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1980-404: 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

2070-515: Is located generally between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis and includes the northern suburbs of Winnipeg and the City of Selkirk, Manitoba . In addition to Selkirk, the riding includes the communities of St. Andrews , St. Clements , Rockwood , Woodlands , Brokenhead , Stonewall , R.M. of Gimli , and the R.M. of Bifrost . Selkirk itself tilts toward the NDP, but it is not enough to overcome

2160-537: Is minimal (exactly 1) in plurality voting in single-member districts ( First-past-the-post voting used in most cases). As well, where multi-member districts are used, threshold de facto stays high if seats are filled by general ticket or other pro-landslide party block system (rarely used nationwide nowadays). In such situations each voter has one vote. District magnitude is larger than 1 where multiple members are elected - plural districts ), and under plurality block voting (where voter may cast as many votes as

2250-414: 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

2340-404: Is not synonymous with proportional representation. The use of "general ticket voting" prevents the multiple-member representation of the district from being mixed and balanced. Where list PR is used in the district, a closed list PR method gives the party machine, not the voters, the power to arrange the candidates on the party list. In this case, a large district magnitude helps minorities only if

2430-621: 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

2520-425: Is the mathematical minimum whereby no more will be elected than there are seats to be filled. It ensures election in contests where all votes are used to elect someone. (Probabilistic threshold should include the likely number of votes wasted to minor lists). For instance, a 10%-polling party will not win a seat in a 5-member district (Droop quota of 1/6=16.67%) but will do so in a 10-member district as its 10 percent of

2610-531: 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

2700-609: The Cantonal Council of Zürich are reapportioned in every election based on the number of votes cast in each district , which is only made possible by use of multi-member districts, and the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina , by contrast, is apportioned without regard to population; the three major ethnic groups – Bosniaks , Serbs , and Croats – each get exactly five members. Malapportionment occurs when voters are under- or over-represented due to variation in district population. In some places, geographical area

2790-594: 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"),

Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-406: 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

2970-439: The wasted-vote effect , effectively concentrating wasted votes among opponents while minimizing wasted votes among supporters. Consequently, gerrymandering is typically done under voting systems using single-member districts, which have more wasted votes. While much more difficult, gerrymandering can also be done under proportional-voting systems when districts elect very few seats. By making three-member districts in regions where

3060-469: 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

3150-453: 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

3240-404: The 1990s. Elected representatives may spend much of the time serving the needs or demands of individual constituents , meaning either voters or residents of their district. This is more common in assemblies with many single-member or small districts than those with fewer, larger districts. In a looser sense, corporations and other such organizations can be referred to as constituents, if they have

3330-457: 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

3420-478: 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,

3510-521: 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

3600-475: 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

3690-453: 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

Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-655: 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

3870-418: 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

3960-470: 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

4050-402: 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,

4140-1038: The electorate or where relatively few members overall are elected, even if the election is held at-large. District magnitude may be set at an equal number of seats in each district. Examples include: all districts of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected 6 members (5 members since 2017); all those of the Parliament of Malta send 5 MPs; Chile, between 1989 and 2013, used a method called binomial voting , which assigned 2 MPs to each district. In many cases, however, multi-member constituencies correspond to already existing jurisdictions (regions, districts, wards, cities, counties, states or provinces), which creates differences in district magnitude from district to district: The concept of district magnitude helps explains why Duverger's speculated correlation between proportional representation and party system fragmentation has many counter-examples, as PR methods combined with small-sized multi-member constituencies may produce

4230-472: 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

4320-486: 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

4410-483: 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

4500-423: 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

4590-476: 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 ),

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4680-543: 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

4770-552: The growing conservative bent of the rest of the riding. The electoral district was originally created in 1976 from the former districts of Portage , Selkirk and Winnipeg South Centre . It was abolished in 1987 and divided into Selkirk , Portage—Interlake , Provencher , and Churchill ridings. It was re-created in 1996 from Selkirk—Red River , Portage—Interlake , Provencher and Churchill . Selkirk—Interlake lost territory to Churchill—Keewatinook Aski , Provencher and Portage—Lisgar , gained territory from Provencher, and

4860-510: 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

4950-419: 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

5040-506: 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

5130-463: The legislature. When referring to a particular legislative constituency, it is simply referred to as "Kṣetra" along with the name of the legislature, in Hindi (e.g. 'Lok Sabha Kshetra' for a Lok Sabha constituency). Electoral districts for buli municipal or other local bodies are called "wards". Local electoral districts are sometimes called wards , a term also used for administrative subdivisions of

5220-531: The location they live. Examples include: Not all democratic political systems use separate districts or other electoral subdivisions to conduct elections. Israel , for instance, conducts parliamentary elections as a single district. The 26 electoral districts in Italy and the 20 in the Netherlands have a role in the actual election, but no role whatsoever in the division of the seats. Ukraine elected half of

5310-447: The make-up of the district map, made easier by a multitude of micro-small districts. A higher magnitude means less wasted votes, and less room for such maneuvers. As well, a fair voting system in the district contests also means that gerrymandering is ineffective because each party gets their fair share of seats however districts are drawn, at least theoretically. Multiple-member contests sometimes use plurality block voting , which allows

5400-555: 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

5490-424: 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

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5580-400: 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

5670-550: The number of representatives allotted to each. Israel and the Netherlands are among the few countries that avoid the need for apportionment entirely by electing legislators at-large . Apportionment is generally done on the basis of population . Seats in the United States House of Representatives , for instance, are reapportioned to individual states every 10 years following a census, with some states that have grown in population gaining seats. By contrast, seats in

5760-493: The number of seats to be filled), proportional representation or single transferable vote elections (where the voter casts just one vote). In STV elections DM normally range from 2 to 10 members in a district. But 21 are elected in a single contest conducted through STV in New South Wales (Australia). In list PR systems DM may exceed 100. District magnitude is maximized where: DM is moderate where districts break up

5850-583: The number of seats up for election at any one time, when district magnitude is more than one. The number of seats up for election varies the ease or difficulty to be elected, as the threshold de facto decreases in proportion as the number of seats being filled increases, unless a pro-landslide voting system is used such as general ticket voting. The concept of magnitude explains Duverger's observation that single-winner contests tend to produce two-party systems , and proportional representation (PR) methods tend to produce multi-party systems . District magnitude

5940-533: The office being elected. The term constituency is commonly used to refer to an electoral district, especially in British English , but it can also refer to the body of eligible voters or all the residents of the represented area or only those who voted for a certain candidate. The terms (election) precinct and election district are more common in American English . In Canadian English ,

6030-428: 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

6120-453: 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

6210-504: The party machine of any party chooses to include them. In a multi-member district where general ticket voting is not used, there is a natural impetus for a party to open itself to minority voters, if they have enough numbers to be significant, due to the competitive environment produced by the electoral system. Apportionment is the process of allocating a number of representatives to different regions, such as states or provinces. Apportionment changes are often accompanied by redistricting ,

6300-587: 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,

6390-496: 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

6480-409: 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

6570-482: 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

6660-550: 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,

6750-798: 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

6840-445: 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. Constituency The names for electoral districts vary across countries and, occasionally, for

6930-424: 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

7020-461: The redrawing of electoral district boundaries to accommodate the new number of representatives. This redrawing is necessary under single-member district systems, as each new representative requires their own district. Multi-member systems, however, vary depending on other rules. Ireland, for example, redraws its electoral districts after every census while Belgium uses its existing administrative boundaries for electoral districts and instead modifies

7110-442: The representation of minorities. John Stuart Mill had endorsed proportional representation (PR) and STV in the mid-19th century precisely to respond to this shortcoming. With lower district magnitudes, the only way to include demographic minorities scattered across the country is to force parties to include them: Large district magnitudes increase the chance for diverse walks of life and minority groups to be elected. However, it

7200-437: The rules permit voters not to rank all the candidates or prevent them from ranking all the candidates, some votes are declared exhausted. Thus it is common for one or two members in a district to be elected without attaining Droop. Larger district magnitudes means larger districts, so annihilate the need and practice of gerrymandering , Gerrymandering is the practice of partisan redistricting by means of creating imbalances in

7290-522: 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

7380-516: 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

7470-463: The single largest group to take all the district seats. Each voter having just one vote in a multi-member district, Single voting, a component of most party-list proportional representation methods as well as single non-transferable vote and single transferable vote , prevents such a landslide. High district magnitude is a major factor in the inclusion of minorities . Plurality (and other elections with lower district magnitudes) are known to limit

7560-659: 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

7650-615: 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

7740-470: The term electorate generally refers specifically to the body of voters. In India , electoral districts are referred to as " Nirvācan Kṣetra " ( Hindi : निर्वाचन क्षेत्र ) in Hindi , which can be translated to English as "electoral area" though the official English translation for the term is "constituency". The term "Nirvācan Kṣetra" is used while referring to an electoral district in general irrespective of

7830-463: The term is used, especially officially, but is also colloquially and more commonly known as a riding or constituency . In some parts of Canada, constituency is used for provincial districts and riding for federal districts. In colloquial Canadian French , they are called comtés ("counties"), while circonscriptions comtés is the legal term. In Australia and New Zealand , Electoral districts are called electorates , however elsewhere

7920-520: The vote exceeds the Droop quota in such a district (1/11=9%). In systems where a noticeable number of votes are wasted, such as Single non-transferable voting or Instant-runoff voting where transferable votes are used but voters are prohibited from ranking all candidates, you will see candidates win with less than Droop. STV is intended to avoid waste of votes by the use of transferable votes but even in STV, if

8010-438: 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,

8100-444: Was renamed "Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman" during the 2012 electoral redistribution . Languages: 84.11% English, 1.99% French, 13.70% Other Religions (2001): 51.05% Protestant, 23.96% Catholic, 19.83% No religion, 3.13% Other Christian Average income: $ 23,818 Riding associations are the local branches of the national political parties: This riding has elected the following members of Parliament : Its member of Parliament

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