Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for P.E.I. proposes new electoral map

The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for P.E.I. is seeking public opinion on itsproposal to redraw the boundaries of the province's four federal electoral districts.

From west to east, the federal electoral districts are: Egmont, Malpeque, Charlottetown and Cardigan.

The commission wants to revise the boundaries due to the province's increase in population from 140,204 in 2011 to 154,331 in 2021 so the number of people in each electoral district are as similar in size as reasonably possible.

The proposal also takes into consideration communities of interest or identity, and historic and geographic factors.

"If we left them the way they currently are, there would be a roughly 10 per cent difference in population between Egmont, Cardigan and Malpeque," said Justice John K. Mitchell, chair of the three-member commission.

"By adjusting those lines a little bit, we've brought them into very close proximity to being the same [population density] basically."

The proposal aims to move the Egmont district's boundary line further east, which would move communities in Lower, North and Central Bedeque from the Malpeque district to Egmont.

The other proposed change is to move the Cardigan district boundaries slightly more west to include regions like Grand Tracadie and Corran Ban.

By law, Canada's federal electoral boundaries are updated after every 10-year census to reflect the shifts and growth in a population by considering its historical patterns, geographic size and communities of interest or identity.

The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for P.E.I. is one of 10 independent commissions created by Parliament to determine the new boundaries of Canada's federal electoral districts.

The commission also includes UPEI political science professor Don Desserud and Kerri Carpenter, a lawyerwith the Atlantic Fusion Law Group and owner of KC Immigration Services.

The commission has scheduled severalpublic hearings on the proposal:

• June 7 at 7 p.m. at the Loyalist Country Inn in Summerside.
• June 8at 7 p.m. at Stanhope Place in Stanhope.
• June 9 at 7 p.m. will be a virtual hearing with details to come.

Following the public consultations, the findingswill be reported to the House of Commons. Feedback from Members of Parliament will be taken into account before final decisions are made.

The new boundaries wouldtake effect for a general election held after April 2024.