Michel Saba, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Member for Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia, the Bloc Québécois Kristina Michaud caused an outcry in eastern Quebec on Friday after the Commission on Federal Constituency Boundaries presented its proposal for re-election of constituencies that included his drive from the map while causing his region to lose one of its four seats in the House of Commons.

In an open letter signed by more than thirty current and former elected officials from all levels of government, Ms Michaud criticizes the commission for probably only considering the “demographic argument” which she recognizes as “logic”.

However, the constituency would be “split in two” and the new route would “separate villages and communities that have much in common and have always worked together,” it says, adding that the current constituency “has its own identity and all of theirs.” complexities.

In announcing its proposal two weeks ago, the commission, made up primarily of political science professors and chaired by retired judge Jacques Chamberland, said the redesign of the voting map aims to ensure that all citizens have roughly equal political weight.

In a press release, Commissioner and University of Montreal professor André Blais argued that it would be “unfair and against the very principle of democracy to do otherwise,” and his retired colleague from University of Laval Louis Massicotte added that the revision goes “far beyond a simple math exercise” and takes other factors into account.

The Electoral Boundary Reorganization Act specifically requires consideration of “the community of interest or specificity of a provincial constituency or its historical development” and “a concern to ensure that constituencies in sparsely populated, rural or northern areas of the province are not overly large”.

The law stipulates that the difference between a constituency’s population and the average constituency’s population — known as the electoral quotient — cannot exceed or fall below 25%, except in “extraordinary” circumstances.

The Avignon – La Mitis – Matane – Matapédia riding stables benefited from this exception during the last redistribution 10 years ago. At that time it showed a deviation of 26% from the average, today this gap has increased to 35.5%.

“The commission had taken into account these peculiarities and the fact that the area was extremely large. So, even if there were a little fewer people than average (…), we still felt it was important to have representation,” the MP explained in an interview with The Canadian Press.

In her opinion, the current rise to the barricades is largely based on the idea that one must have access to one’s deputy “without having to drive for hours”.

It was “fair” and “democratic” to “have easy access to an MP whether we are in a very, very large area or not,” Ms Michaud replied to a question on the democracy issue. .

Elected officials are actually asking for the same exemption as they did ten years ago. “What we’re asking for isn’t necessarily greater political weight, it’s political weight that matches what we have at the moment,” she said.

The current electoral map contains 78 electoral divisions in Quebec. Under the proposal, the boundaries of 17 constituencies would be retained and those of 60 others “modified in more or less significant ways to bring the population of those constituencies substantially closer to the voter quotient of 108,998”.

The commission also proposes the creation of a new equestrian center north of Montreal in the Laurentians. It would be called “Les Pays-d’en-Haut”.

About 20 public consultations will be held in person and virtually throughout September and October to allow citizens to provide their comments on the redrawing of the constituency and the proposed new name.

Note to readers: This is an edited version of an announcement from The Canadian Press that was submitted on August 12th. The original version indicated that Elections Canada had submitted its proposal to redraw the electoral map. This is a proposal from the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission.