Canada

Liberals furious over electoral map restructure

The Opposition Liberals are crying foul over proposed changes to the electoral map.

The new map would merge six Liberal strongholds into three ridings.

Among them is Notre Dame de Grace, a riding which has voted Liberal in every election but one since 1939.

The proposed changes have Liberal MNA Russell Copeman questioning whether the chief electoral officer is really at arms length from the government.

Copeman says the electoral officer could have picked other, less populated ridings in Montreal, but instead, picked six of the most federalist ridings in the province.

Copeman says he and the Liberal party will do whatever they can to fight the proposed changes.

Plan dropped in eastern Quebec

As for the riding map in eastern Quebec, the electoral commission has scrapped a plan to eliminate the Matane seat.

In the face of strong opposition, the commission has backed down and decided to maintain four ridings on the Gasp Peninsula.

The ridings in the Gasp join the Magdalen Islands and Ungava as ridings that don't meet the legal minimum population.

Public hearings on riding changes begin in September.