Politics

Ontario Liberal MP's map of Canada forgets P.E.I., Yukon

Yasir Naqvi's pre-Canada Day map merged several provincial and territorial borders and omits one province altogether. 

Yasir Naqvi’s pre-Canada Day map came with a unique geography lesson

Map Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi sent out to constituents, missing Prince Edward Island, the provincial border between Quebec and Nova Scotia and territorial borders.
A pre-Canada Day map sent to constituents by Ottawa MP Yasir Naqvi featured several inconsistencies with provincial and territorial borders. (CBC)

Yasir Naqvi's map of Canada map depicts a country Canadians are not familiar with — it has eight provinces and two territories. 

Canada has 10 provinces and three territories.

The taxpayer-funded political flyer by the Liberal MP to celebrate Canada Day, which was sent to constituents in his Ottawa Centre riding, includes a photo of Naqvi with his contact information. Its main feature is a blank map of Canada encouraging recipients to "colour the map."

However, recipients were met with a few fewer provinces to colour. The Maritime province of Prince Edward Island is typically nestled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but was left out of the map altogether.

The map also included several inconsistencies with provincial and territorial borders.

The Quebec border takes over New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, lumping them into one province.

And the border between Yukon and Northwest Territories has disappeared, merging the territories into one.

The map has been making the rounds online, with many questioning how it was approved despite the inaccuracies.

Alberta Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner took to X, formerly known as Twitter. She shared a photo of the map and asked, "Can you spot the error that whoever was supposed to proof this mailer didn't catch?"

Days after the map was sent out Naqvi took to X to apologize for the mistake.

Naqvi did not explain how this map was sent out despite the errors, but instead he gave a solution on how to use the inaccurate map.

"Please think of it as an interactive map to teach kids our geography, or to start to learn more about these amazing places," Naqvi wrote on Sunday.

CBC News reached out to the Liberal MP for comment but did not receive a response.

Newsletters — known as "householders" — are paid for by the House of Commons that Canada Post distributes at no charge to households in each MP's own riding. 

MPs can send these flyers, which typically inform constituents about parliamentary activities and issues, up to four times per year using their office budgets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarina Mohan

Associate producer

Sarina is an associate producer with CBC’s Power & Politics and is based in Ottawa. Reach her by email at sarina.mohan@cbc.ca.

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

Your weekly guide to what you need to know about federal politics and the minority Liberal government. Get the latest news and sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning.

...

The next issue of Minority Report will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in the Subscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.