GATINEAU, QC, Oct. 15, 2021 /CNW/ – The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, announced today that the number of seats allocated to the provinces and territories in the House of Commons following the next decennial redistribution of seats will increase from 338 to 342. However, this change will not take effect until 2024 at the earliest.
The number of House of Commons seats is recalculated after each 10-year census to account for changes in Canada’s population. The Chief Electoral Officer completes this calculation using the population estimates provided by the Chief Statistician of Canada and a formula found in the Constitution.
Under the new seat allocation, provinces and territories will be represented in the House of Commons as follows: British Columbia, 43; Alberta, 37; Saskatchewan, 14; Manitoba, 14; Ontario, 122; Quebec, 77; New Brunswick, 10; Nova Scotia, 11; Prince Edward Island, 4; Newfoundland and Labrador, 7; Yukon, 1; the Northwest Territories, 1; and Nunavut, 1.
The new seat allocation serves as a basis for redrawing the federal electoral district boundaries within each province. Known as the redistribution of federal electoral districts, this process is expected to begin in February 2022, when Statistics Canada releases the 2021 Census population numbers. The work will be led by independent and non-partisan commissions established in each of the 10 provinces. The new electoral map is expected to be officially completed in October 2023 but will not take effect immediately.
The procedures for carrying out the redistribution of federal electoral districts are set out in the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. For more information about this process, visit elections.ca.
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency that reports directly to Parliament.
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SOURCE Elections Canada
