Byelections cast light on need to redistribute seats

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This article was published 06/12/2010 (5511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Byelection results are seldom harbingers of overall Canadian political trends. Last week was no exception.

But the three byelections did focus some attention on the alarming discrepancy in voter representation in Canada’s Parliament.

In Winnipeg North, 31 per cent turnout meant just under 16,000 people voted.

In the suburban Toronto riding of Vaughan, 32.7 per cent turnout meant nearly 40,000 people voted.

Julian Fantino, the Conservative who won Vaughan, now represents more than 120,800 registered voters.

Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal who won Winnipeg North, serves fewer than half that number, around 52,000.

It’s interesting then that four days after the byelections, a scuffle arose about whether or not the government and opposition parties had quietly agreed to shelve a bill that would have started to correct the problem.

The legislation would have added seats in the House of Commons for British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, whose populations have grown faster than other provinces.

All parties denied the media report that the bill was being sidelined because it was upsetting voters in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, where their proportion of seats would decrease relative to the three fastest-growing provinces in the country.

But it’s clear that even if they don’t plan to kill it, nobody seems pressed to pass it either.

The bill was introduced for the third time last April. The first two attempts died due to an election call or prorogation. The third version has now sat untouched for more than eight months.

The bill isn’t perfect. It still leaves B.C., Alberta, and Ontario underrepresented, and ironically pushes Quebec into that category as well.

But it’s a start.

These byelections showed exactly why the government needs to do something about it.

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Manitoba Conservative MP Joy Smith was frightened Thursday afternoon when her aide pulled her out of the health committee meeting she was chairing.

She thought he was going to tell her something had happened to her husband, Bart, who has been fighting lymphoma.

She was pleasantly surprised when instead she was ushered across the hall into a reception in her honour. Ratanak International recognized Smith’s work in the fight against human trafficking with a surprise reception.

The award included a valuable signature from William Wilberforce, the British MP who spent much of his political career in the late 18th and early 19th centuries fighting to have the slave trade abolished in the British empire.

Smith has made exposing the issue of human trafficking — known as the modern-day slave trade — her priority as an MP. Earlier this year she got a bill passed in Parliament implementing mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of trafficking children.

Ratanak International’s focus is on the sex-slave trade in Cambodia, but Smith pointed out Canadian kids too are victims to the crime.

“It’s happening here on our soil every day,” Smith said. “Ten minutes from Parliament Hill right now we’re trying to find a 12-year-old girl… who was offered up on Craigslist. We can’t find her. She’s gone.”

In October, Manitoba Attorney General Andrew Swan demanded Craigslist stop allowing ads selling girls and women for sex. Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson joined the call last month.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper got to usher in the holidays in Ottawa twice last week.

On Thursday he was joined by Winnipeg Rabbi Avrohom Altein to light the candles on a menorah for the second night of Hanukkah. It was the first-ever official menorah lighting at the Prime Minister’s residence.

A little over two hours later, Harper and his daughter flipped the switch to power up 300,000 Christmas lights around Centre Block and for blocks on either side as well.

From the giant snowflakes projected onto Centre Block to the red, green, white, blue, and purple lights sparkling all up and down Wellington Street, Parliament Hill has come alive with the festive spirit. The halls inside the storied buildings have also been decked.

It’s hard not to hum holiday tunes when trying to concentrate on post-question period scrums in the foyer while standing underneath a 20-foot tree. To that end, one might wonder if MPs and cabinet ministers wouldn’t want to extend the holiday decoration season longer than the month of December.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca