The new federal electoral boundaries proposed in Nova Scotia would lead to a significant restructuring of the 11 provincial elections in the next federal election.
The borders are redrawn in Canada every 10 years to reflect population changes in the census.
The Nova Scotia Border Commission has released its proposal, which includes four newly renamed federal rides and a cascade of border changes to meet the large population growth in the Halifax metro and the decline of Cape Breton and the eastern continent.
Balancing act
“It is very difficult to strike a balance,” said Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge Cindy Bourgeois, who chairs the three-member commission.
The other members are political scientists David Johnson of Cape Breton University and Louise Carbert of Dalhousie.
To ensure that votes have the same weight everywhere, the committee is trying to maintain similar populations in each ride – about 88,000 – by allowing a maximum deviation of 25 percent, more or less.
The bourgeoisie said that maintaining relative voting parity was not easy.
“The problem is, when you change the limit for a ride, it inevitably affects the next ride, and that often creates a cascading effect.”
Halifax West – the busiest ride in Nova Scotia
In Halifax West, the riding population has grown by 24,669 over the past decade, representing more than half of the province’s total growth.
Nearly 112,000 people currently live in riding, which is 27 percent above the average for 88,000 people. Halifax, with a population of 107,000, has the next largest deviation of 21 percent.
The commission has proposed separating much of Halifax West and adding it to the newly created Shubenakadi-Bedford basin.
“Halifax West needed to be changed,” said Bourgeois.
Effect of waves throughout the province
The redevelopment of Halifax West will have a domino effect throughout Nova Scotia.
Kings-Hants MP Cody Blois of Lantz will live off the ride below the proposed new limit as the East Hants corridor – including the Lantz, Enfield and Elmsdale communities – shifts to the renamed Pictou-Eastern Shore-Preston.
“East Hunts County and Hunts County as a whole have never been separated in this way since the Confederacy,” Blois told CBC News.
Kings-Hants MP Cody Blois would live off his ride with the proposed border changes. (screenshot)
Central Nova disappears, Antigonish rolled into Cape Breton
Pictou-Eastern Shore-Preston is currently Central Nova, which will lose the whole of Antigonish County to the recently renamed Cape Breton-Antigonish – which is now Cape Breton-Canso.
“The proposed changes in riding fundamentally change the nature of several constituencies in Nova Scotia,” Central Nova MP Sean Fraser told CBC News about the proposal.
“Folding the entire city and county of Antigonis in the same federal ride as Cape Breton underscores the extensive nature of some of the changes,” he said.
Shelburn added to West Nova
The West Nova ride will undergo a name change and will host the whole of Shelburne County as the Acadian Shore-Shelburne.
“It creates a very big ride. It creates a ride that doesn’t necessarily have a real connection,” said West Nova MP Chris d’Entremont.
West Nova MP Chris d’Entremont will see that his ride will be increased to cover the whole of Shelburn County and will be renamed. (screenshot)
The ride will cover all of southwest Nova Scotia to the Annapolis Valley.
He said most of the holders are in the same boat.
“I’m talking to [MP] Rick Perkins at South Shore-St. Margaret … the loss of Shelburn County is important to him. A good conservative base, of course, in this area, “said d’Entremon.
Riding on the South Coast-St. Margaret will see his border approaching Halifax Subway.
The Commission says to tell us that we are wrong
All three MPs he contacted encouraged the people in their ride to respond to the proposal, as did the bourgeoisie.
“What we need from the public and what we welcome from the public is for people to say, ‘Oh, you were wrong,'” the judge said. “That’s why it will work. That’s why it won’t work. Here’s a suggestion. If you have to balance the numbers, look at it differently.”
Bourgeois said some changes were absolutely necessary, but the new proposal was a “preliminary move” in numbers.
“We hope the public will help us refine these changes and perhaps give us alternative ideas on how we can make a readjustment that takes into account other points of view that we may not have taken into account,” she said.
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