Ontario will finally get rep by pop in the House. This should mean an additional 21 seats for Ontario, to go along with more seats for British Columbia and Alberta. Kudos to Dalton McGuinty and all the federal MPs who stood against Harper’s previous version of this legislation that would have given rep by pop to BC and Alberta but NOT Ontario. It would be nice to see Peter Van Loan and Pierre Poilievre carted out now to apologize for their small-minded comments directed towards McGuinty, but we know this government never takes responsibility or apologizes for anything so I know that won’t happen.
I don’t think it’s too cynical to believe that the only reason Harper gave in now is because he now believes he could win the bulk of new seats in Ontario (after doing much better there in the last election) and didn’t believe that before. Thankfully here in Canada we don’t have politicians setting electoral boundaries and instead the job is left to Elections Canada. I imagine the boundaries will be similar to what they were for provincial ridings before Mike Harris’ "Fewer Politicians Act" cut out about 20 ridings at the provincial level in the 90s, but I recognize the demographics of the province have changed a lot since that time. Though according to the same act does that now mean Ontario will get another 21 ridings provincially as well?
Either way, regardless of the motivations of Harper’s late conversion to electoral fairness and who it benefits, I’m glad to see the right approach won out in the end.
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Given the kind of person Harper is, and the anti-democratic actions he prefers to take (calling Ontario "small man of Confederation" for wanting rep by pop, not holding Parliament since May, cancelling a vote on his own fiscal update because he couldn't win it, cancelling Parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote, secretly recording opposition caucus meetings, offering "financial considerations" for Cadman's vote, cheating election funding laws with in-and-out)... and much more I'm sure... don't be surprised if all 21 ridings are all located in the heart of Conservative country.
Call it Harpermandering.
Well, presumably Elections Canada will set how the ridings will be distributed. Good to see Harper on board now, but you gotta think that he's only in now because he thinks this will help him. I'll give him some benefit of doubt, but he's motivated by power, and wouldn't do something that would overtly harm him (ie. if the proposal was 5 more seats for downtown Toronto, he'd still be yelling).
Quebec let him down....so, what to do. Oh, I know, give Ontario more seats, then I can get my majority.
A real piece of work Harper is. Fair weather friend.
Cozy up to Charest, back stab Charest and cozy up with Dumont. Dumont is toast and Charest not happy - so, more seats in Ontario.
"don't be surprised if all 21 ridings are all located in the heart of Conservative country".
So... anywhere but the City of Toronto proper? Gotcha.
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