General

Parliament just got bigger

MPs vote to add 30 seats to reflect changing demographics

Members of Parliament voted to expand the House of Commons by 30 seats on Tuesday evening. After the next election, there will be 338 MPs in Ottawa, a total that will cost Canadian taxpayers an additional $14.8 million. The bill, dubbed the Fair Representation Act, will give British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec additional ridings in the next federal election. “The legislation is fair for all provinces and it moves every single Canadian closer to representation by population,” Tim Uppal, the Conservative minister of state for democratic reform, was quoted as saying in the National Post. The legislation passed through the House of Commons by a vote of 154 to 131 and will next be seen in the Senate, where it is expected to be approved by a Conservative majority. The Liberals have argued that fair representation should be sought without adding new seats to the House of Commons, but the Conservatives rejected that proposal. The New Democrats opposed both the Liberal and Conservative plans. The redrawing of electoral boundaries is slated to begin in February 2012.

Postmedia News

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