A Bloc Québécois motion aimed at preserving Quebec’s political weight in the federal Parliament was adopted on Wednesday during a vote to which all MNAs were invited.
The Bloc members were able to count on the support of almost all of the Liberals, nearly half of the Conservatives and all of the New Democrats. A total of 261 deputies voted for the motion and 63 against.
Under the motion, the House of Commons rejects “any scenario of redrawing the federal electoral map which would have the effect of causing the loss of one or more electoral districts in Quebec or of reducing the political weight of Quebec in the House of Commons” and asks the government to change the formula for allocating seats in the House.
The redistricting proposal presented by Elections Canada last fall would reduce the number of seats in the House of Commons from 338 to 342 to take into account changes in the Canadian population.
Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia would see an increase in their number of seats, but Quebec would be the only province to lose a seat in this redistribution. It would be the first time since 1966 that a province lost a seat when redrawing the electoral map.
This “coldly evacuates the national character of Quebec and condemns it to seeing its political weight crumble over the decades,” believes the Bloc Québécois.
“There are two possible solutions, explained earlier in the day the leader of the bloc, Yves-François Blanchet. Either Quebec accepts that its political weight in terms of the number of seats in Parliament be reduced or it accepts immigration thresholds which are its ratio of Canadian immigration and which are well beyond its capacity for linguistic integration. . It’s like Canada saying, ‘shrink your political clout or anglicize yourself’.”
Mr. Blanchet insisted that “it is not a reproach to the chief electoral officer” who does his “statistical work”.
“It can’t just be statistics,” he said. It is two founding peoples, two founding nations. You cannot let the language and one of the nations disappear if you want to claim to have two founding nations.
In an emailed statement, Deputy Conservative Leader and Lieutenant for Quebec Luc Berthold said he was “proud” to have asked for “unanimous consent” to oppose the proposal to reduce the number of Quebec seats.
“No province should lose seats,” he wrote. The Conservatives will continue to defend the interests of Quebeckers and Canadians.”
The new electoral map should be completed in October 2023, and could come into effect as soon as April 2024, possibly after the next election.