Commission to redraw N.S. electoral map to 'provide effective representation' for Chéticamp

Nine MLAs from all three parties at Province House have a month to create a commission to redraw Nova Scotia's electoral map in a way that will "provide effective representation" to the Acadian region of Chéticamp.

This Electoral Boundaries Commission is being formed to comply with a ruling last November by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court that found the lack of a protected district for Chéticamp to be an unjustified breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

PC cabinet minister Brendan Maguire is chairing the group that includes five PC politicians, three New Democrats and a Liberal.

The group will also set the terms of reference for the commission.

According to a resolution introduced in the Nova Scotia Legislature Friday, "the commission shall recommend such changes to the boundaries of the existing electoral districts as are necessary to ensure compliance with the principal mandate of the commission…and such additional terms of reference as the commission may determine."

Justice Minister Becky Druhan said she would leave it to the committee of MLAs to determine the commission's terms of reference and then up to the commission to follow that guidance.

"It will be up to the independent commission to make a determination as to how to best reflect the court's decision around representation rights for the community of Chéticamp," said Druhan. "We can't presuppose what that might look like."

Map redraw affects 'everyone else'

Redrawing the map to deal with a specific issue affects other boundaries, but there have also been population shifts since the map was redrawn in 2019 to create 55 seats, an increase of four over the previous map.

Opposition Leader Claudia Chender of the NDP said her party looked forward to seeing the terms of reference that will govern the commission's work, but she suggested an examination of the entire map would be valuable.

"It may well make sense for the commission to consider other electoral boundaries across the province to ensure that everyone has effective electoral representation," said Chender. "When you change one boundary, it changes the representation for everyone else."

Elector parity was the main factor in determining the electoral boundaries during the work of the last boundaries commission.

Voter parity is the notion that every vote carries roughly the same weight and that is achieved by creating electoral districts that contain roughly the same number of voters.

Nova Scotia has four so-called protected seats — Clare, Argyle, Richmond and Preston — that deviate from the norm because of their unique cultural or historical makeup. 

Those constituencies have fewer than allowed voters in order to give those communities a better chance of being represented by either Acadian or Black MLAs.