Commissioned Ridings: Designing Canada's Electoral DistrictsWhere did the idea for nonpartisan constituency redistributions come from? What were the principal reasons that Canada turned to arm's-length commissions to design its electoral districts? In this volume, John Courtney addresses these questions by examining and assessing the readjustment process in Canada's electoral boundaries. Defining electoral districts as 'representational building blocks, ' Courtney compares federal and provincial electoral readjustments in the last half of the 20th century, showing how parliamentarians and legislators, boundary commissions, courts, and interested members of the general public debated representational principles to define the purposes of electoral redistricting in an increasingly urban, ethnically mixed federal state such as Canada |
Contents
Canadas First Provincial | 35 |
Canada Looks to Australia | 57 |
Drawing the Maps | 74 |
Professional and Independent Commissions | 94 |
Participation Objections and Delays | 122 |
The Courts | 151 |
Commissioned Ridings in the 1990s | 172 |
Community of Interest and Effective Representation | 204 |
Looking Back and Looking Ahead | 235 |
Canada | 261 |
Chronology of RedistributionRelated Events | 264 |
Bibliography | 317 |
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Common terms and phrases
25 percent Aboriginal accepted adopted Alberta amended appointed Assembly Australia Bill Boundaries Readjustment Act boundary readjustment process British Columbia Brunswick Canadian Carter decision census changes chief electoral officer commis Commissioned Ridings commissioners committee community of interest constituency boundaries constructing debate decade designed Dixon EBRA effective representation elec Elections Canada Electoral Boundaries Commission electoral boundary readjustments electoral districts electoral map Electoral Reform electoral system ensure established federal commissions Federal Electoral Boundaries federal redistribution gerrymandering Gini groups House of Commons independent commissions independent electoral boundary interview issue legislation legislature Liberal Lortie Commission majority Manitoba ment non-partisan Northwest Territories Nova Scotia number of seats Nunavut Ontario Ottawa parity of voting Parliament parliamentary party politicians Post-Carter Press Prince Edward Island principle Procedure and House proposed province province's Provincial Electoral Boundaries public hearings Quebec quota quotient reapportionment rural Saskatchewan Supreme Court tion toral Toronto urban voter equality voting power