Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Peter Van Loan, Minister for Democratic Reform and Government House Leader (left), announces new legislation to increase the number of seats in the House of Commons for Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, while Jay Hill, the Chief Government Whip, looks on in Ottawa, Friday, May 11, 2007. (CCNMATTHEWS PHOTO/Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform)

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - May 11, 2007) - Today, the Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister for Democratic Reform and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons continued to move forward on Canada's New Government's agenda to strengthen accountability and democracy by introducing the Constitution Act, 2007 (Democratic representation). The legislation delivers on another commitment Canada's New Government made to Canadians in the last election campaign.

"Legislation was introduced in the House of Commons today to deliver on our commitment to restore the principle of representation by population for the provinces with faster growing populations, while protecting the seat counts of provinces with slower growing populations," stated Minister Van Loan.

Under the Constitution, seats in the House of Commons are readjusted among the provinces after each decennial census according to a formula. This formula is based primarily on provincial population, but also incorporates minimum seat guarantees for provinces with relative declining populations.

Under this formula, however, provinces with faster-growing populations have become significantly under-represented in the House of Commons. Therefore, the legislation will update the formula provided for in section 51 of the Constitution Act, 1867 so that future readjustments better account for population changes in faster-growing provinces.

Echoing the formula of Confederation, the legislation will also ensure that any rapidly growing province with a population smaller than that of Quebec will have an average riding population similar to the average riding population of Quebec.

Under this legislation, it is projected that, in the next readjustment process following the release of the 2011 census, the faster-growing provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia would receive more seats than they would otherwise receive under the existing formula: Ontario would receive 6 additional seats, Alberta would receive 4 additional seats, and British Columbia would receive 5 additional seats. At the same time, no province would lose seats.

The Backgrounder - Constitution Act, 2007 (Democratic representation) - is available at the following address: http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/leader_eng.pdf