Paul Davis's seat reduction plan sparks political debate
Political leaders in Newfoundland and Labrador are supporting the idea of cutting the number of seats in the provincial legislature, but say a lot more work has to be done first.
Paul Davis is looking at reducing the seats in the provincial legislature to a number lower than the current 48.
Liberal Leader Dwight Ball has said he supports the change, but doubts it could be put in place before the next provincial election.
Timing curious
NDP leader Lorraine Michael is also on board with the idea of less seats, but thinks the timing of the news is curious.
Michael said redrawing the electoral boundaries is a complicated process — one that will require analysis of population distribution among other factors.
"I think the process and the way we do it is very important," she said. "I find it very strange and rather silly of the Premier to be thinking that he can just cut a number of seats without doing a full analysis of the population right now in the province."
Right now, there are 48 members of the House of Assembly, each one costing $230,000 including salaries, office, staff and travel costs. Michael said the Premier should ask the Electoral Boundaries Commission to do the analysis and recommend a seat adjustment number after that process is complete.
"I find it curious that he's saying this, even though he knows it can't be put in place before the election," she said Monday.
"I think what he should be doing is just recognizing that we have a process every 10 years, we have a review done by the Electoral Boundaries Commission and that review happens in 2016."
Johnathan Galgay
In St John's City Council chambers Monday night, at least one councillor called on the province to exercise caution when it reviews electoral boundaries.
Jonathan Galgay raised the possibility that any changes could potentially harm the northeast Avalon.
"My fear is that the city of St. John's will take a hit if a review does take place," he said.
"I just want to ensure that as members of council, we represent about 20,000 people and often times its a struggle to get some feedback from MHAs because they are quite active and very busy."
Galgay told council last evening he fears the city would lose representation if a review results in changes for the region.
"I want to ensure that I point out that I would encourage the government to use caution not to disregard any other area throughout the province but as the capital city I think we are doing fairly well with our representation. I think that they should know that."
The Premier's office says Paul Davis will release more details later this week about the possible review.
With files from Krissy Holmes and Mark Quinn