Political representation and population distribution in Canada

Don Kerr, University of Western Ontario
Hugh Mellon, University of Western Ontario

Canada demographic growth is becoming increasingly uneven. Selected regions of the country are experiencing a virtual population explosion while others are facing a near population implosion. This demographic situation has all sorts of important implications for individuals, social groups and regions, as well as for governments. For example, this increasingly uneven distribution has important implications for the manner in which Canadians are represented in the Canadian Parliament. As argued, Canada’s current system of electoral boundary adjustment is seriously out of touch with many of the country’s new demographic realities. As a by-product, the vote is becoming seriously diluted in some of Canada’s largest and fastest growing cities, with realistic projections suggesting that this will increasingly be a problem into the future. As Canada has come to increasingly rely on immigration in maintaining population, this has major consequences for how Canadians (and recent immigrants in particular) are represented in the Federal House of Commons.