(Montreal) A “catastrophe”, constituencies in Quebec which would be “ravaged”, a feeling of belonging which would be “distorted”: the three opposition parties have no shortage of epithets to describe the overhaul of the electoral map which is considered.
The Liberal Party, Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois joined forces on Friday at a press conference in Montreal to ask the Chief Electoral Officer to take a break from revising the boundaries of electoral constituencies, giving time to elected officials do their job of overhauling the criteria.
They were accompanied by representatives of the Eastern Montreal Chamber of Commerce and the Angus Development Corporation, but no MP from the Coalition Avenir Québec was present.
Madwa-Nika Cadet, MP for Bourassa-Sauvé, elaborated on the proposal from the PLQ that the two other parties supported: “pause the work of the Electoral Representation Commission, so that all parliamentarians can work to the overhaul of the criteria established in the electoral law”.
With the planned changes to the electoral boundaries in Montreal, “the heart of Rosemont would no longer be in Rosemont. The Rosemont riding would be catapulted much further east, into Anjou. In other words, I go from Promenade Masson to Galeries d’Anjou,” explained Rosemont MP Vincent Marissal of Québec Solidaire.
Alongside Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois, Mr.me Cadet and Mr. Marissal invited the DGEQ “not to touch something fragile” like the East of Montreal.
East Montreal has traditionally been disadvantaged – in terms of public transportation, for example.
The planned reform takes little account of the demographic changes that have occurred in Montreal, noted Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon. For example, thousands of newcomers have come to settle in the East of Montreal and they are not yet registered on the electoral lists. But they may still need help from an MP.
“We are about to make a major mistake. By wanting to solve certain problems, we create problems ten times bigger,” lamented Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
Another problem also arises with the proposed overhaul of the electoral map, in the Gaspésie and Bas-Saint-Laurent region, where the number of counties would go from three to two.
This time, it would be the scale of the territory to be covered that would be problematic and the logistical challenges that this would pose to an MP.