The Harper government and the opposition parties have agreed to quietly sink legislation that would have given Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta more seats in the House of Commons. As a result, urban and visible-minority voters will continue to be discriminated against in Parliament.
I am so angry at whomever my anger should be directed at!!!!
Seriously though, when the idiots in Parliament show that they can actually work/govern the country, I'll start worrying about who's there from each region. Although this may need to be addressed one day, we have WAY bigger issues at the moment.
It seems strange to me that the House of Commons would have to pass a bill regarding the number of MPs per population. You'd think that would be defined in the Constitution and changes would be automatic every 5-10 years based on population data from the most recent census.
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Another problem with a minority government, too many back room deals with the opposition to kill bills like this. Happened to the senate reform bill too.
Not that I necessarily want a majority Harper government. While in general I support the current conservative government, Harper's shown too many gaffes lately.
Quebec is the only province with the correct amount of seats. Theirs are legislated. It is the maritimes and Ontario that have to many as well as most Rural ridings are smaller than city ridings.
I'm not truly angry about it, because I knew when this first came up that there was no way of it getting though.
The Cons mistake on this is not driving it into a high profile debate, but I guess that would be pushed by the Bloc as a attack on Quebec's rights as a distinct society withing Canada.
I've always said, that the prime minister candidate that stands up to the Bloc and Ducceppe would get my vote in that instant.
Just like I swear that in the last election debate if Harper would have put his foot on Elizabeth May's chair and pushed her out of camera he would have had his majority.
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Quebec is the only province with the correct amount of seats. Theirs are legislated. It is the maritimes and Ontario that have to many as well as most Rural ridings are smaller than city ridings.
Pretty easy to see who didn't read the article.
Quote:
Under the legislation, Ontario would have received 18 new seats, British Columbia seven, and Alberta five, bringing all three provinces up to the level of representation in the House warranted by their populations.
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Quebec is the only province with the correct amount of seats. Theirs are legislated. It is the maritimes and Ontario that have to many as well as most Rural ridings are smaller than city ridings.
Someone didn't read the article, I see.
Ontario is under-represented and has fewer seats in parliament than their population should dictate. This legislation would have given Ontario 18 more MPs to bring them up to where they should be compared to five more MPs for Alberta.
Nothing like politicians putting off a decisive decision without regard to it being more decisive in the future. I guarantee the Bloc will back off of their position when the Parti Quebecois win in Quebec and then we get this "The English are adding half of Quebec to their seats in parliament, lets separate and show them" argument. It's silly cause if it were the other way around and Quebec was not getting their fair share in seats or whatever they would be protesting in the streets.