The Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia federal constituency will disappear from the federal electoral map on April 24.

The Representation Regulations, which describe and name Canada’s future electoral districts, came into force by proclamation on September 22, 2023.

The new boundaries and constituencies will come into force at the next federal election after April 22, 2024.

Any general election called before this date will be held in accordance with the current electoral boundaries, as will any by-election called before the new electoral districts come into force.

The MRCs Avignon and Matanie will therefore be found in the new expanded Gaspésie-Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine-Listuguj district.

The MRCs of Matapédia and Mitis will be housed in the Rimouski-La Matapédia constituency.

The Bloc MP for Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia did not want to comment on the confirmed end of her constituency.

The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s decision to delete the Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia constituency is being challenged in the Federal Court.

Gaspé lawyer Alexis Deschênes and the organization Droits Collectifs Québec said in August they wanted to convince a judge of the nonsense of the decision.

Mr. Deschênes said at the time that the map meant “a slow but inexorable dilution of our political power to the point of insignificance.” »

The application for judicial review is based on an opinion from the Supreme Court of Canada in the Saskatchewan Provincial Electoral Districts Reference and the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.

“Our right to vote goes hand in hand with the right to effective representation. The Supreme Court says that effective representation is not only based on equality of electoral power between different constituencies, but that we must also consider other factors such as geography, historical development and communities of interest. “We must and can also rely on demographic forecasts to carry out redistricting and we believe there was an error in the facts,” Mr Deschênes said in August.

Elections Canada and Quebec’s attorney general have indicated their intention to appear.

The court proceedings will continue until a date is set for the case to be heard, which has not yet been announced.

The adopted map, presented in the summer of 2022, sparked an outcry of protest from the entire political class in Gaspésie.