The bloc members could count on the support of almost all Liberals, almost half of the Conservatives and all New Democrats. A total of 262 MEPs voted in favor of the motion and 66 against.

Under the motion, the House of Commons rejects any federal electoral map redraw scenario that would result in the loss of one or more Quebec ridings or the reduction of Quebec’s political weight in the House of Commons and calls on the government to change the formula for allocating seats in the House of Representatives.

A snippet that evacuates Quebec national character

The new constituency proposal put forward by Elections Canada last fall would reduce the number of seats in the House of Commons from 338 to 342 to accommodate changes in Canada’s population.

Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia would see increases in their seats, but Quebec would be the only province to lose a seat in this reallocation. It would be the first time since 1966 that a province lost a seat in the electoral map redraw.

That coldly conceals Quebec’s national character and condemns it to see its political clout crumble over the decadesbelieves the Bloc Québécois.

There are two possible solutions, explained block leader Yves-François Blanchet earlier in the day. Either Quebec accepts that its political weight be reduced in terms of the number of seats in Parliament, or it accepts immigration thresholds according to its share of Canadian immigration well above its linguistic integration capacity. It’s as if Canada were saying, “Reduce your political clout or Anglicize yourself.”

Mr Blanchet explained that this was not the case A reproach to the election officerhis power statistical work.

” It can’t just be statistics. There are two founding peoples, two founding nations. You can’t make the language and one of the nations disappear if you want to claim to have two founding nations. »

In an emailed statement, Conservative party leader and Quebec lieutenant Luc Berthold said proud to have asked unanimous consent to reject the proposal to reduce the number of seats for Quebec.

No province should lose seats, he wrote. Conservatives will continue to defend the interests of Quebecers and Canadians.

The new electoral map is due to be completed in October 2023 and could come into effect as early as April 2024, possibly after the next election.