Quote:
Originally Posted by yads
But the house of commons isn't based around proportional representation. If it were PEI wouldn't have 4 seats. Quebec wouldn't have a minimum number of seats either. You wouldn't have rural ridings having fewer people than urban ridings. It's a pretty convoluted system that only vaguely has something to do with proportional representation.
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It's interesting to note that Quebec is the only province that has exactly the correct number of MPs if each province received an equal share based on population. The national average is 1 MP per 103k citizens; Quebec has 1 MP per 101k citizens. Ontario, Alberta, and BC are under-represented based on their current populations while all other provinces and territories are over-represented.
The following data is from wikipedia and is based off 2006 census data and current federal electoral districts:
Alberta = 117k citizens/MP
Ontario = 114k citizens/MP
British Columbia = 114k citizens/MP
National average = 103k citizens/MP
Quebec = 101k citizens/MP
Nova Scotia = 83k citizens/MP
Manitoba = 82k citizens/MP
New Brunswick = 73k citizens/MP
Newfoundland = 72k citizens/MP
Saskatchewan = 69k citizens/MP
NWT = 41k citizens/MP
PEI = 34k citizens/MP
Yukon = 30k citizens/MP
Nunavut = 29k citizens/MP
That's just something to keep in mind whenever you hear someone claiming how unfair it is that Quebec has so much power over federal politics. In fact, Quebec is the only province or territory that has precisely as much representation in parliament as their population should mandate.