Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Issue 18 - Seventh and Eighth Reports of the Committee
OTTAWA, Thursday, June 22, 2000
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to present its
SEVENTH REPORT
Your Committee, to which was referred Bill C-473, An Act to change the names of certain electoral districts, has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Tuesday, June 13, 2000, examined the said Bill and now reports the same without amendment but with observations, which are appended to this report.
Respectfully submitted,
LORNA MILNE
Chair
OBSERVATIONS
to the Seventh Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
1. Bill C-473 changes the name of 12 constituencies. Many of the changes are relatively minor, and appear to be motivated by a desire to be more descriptive of the area covered by the riding and, in most cases, to include the names of other significant communities or regions, or historically-associated municipalities. Your Committee, however, has reservations about this process for changing constituency names, and wishes to formally put these concerns on the record.
2. On June 14, 2000, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Mr. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, re-iterated the statement he made on February 3, 1999 before your Committee during our consideration of Bills C-445, C-464, and C-465, three bills which changed constituency names. He explained the redistribution process, the criteria for the selection of constituency names, and the administrative implications of name changes. These comments expanded on those contained in a letter that Mr. Kingsley had written to the Honourable Senator Marcel Prud'homme, P.C., regarding the debate in the Senate on these bills. While your Committee reported all three bills back to the Senate without amendment, several Senators did further explore the process with Mr. Kingsley.
3. In recent years, a practice has developed whereby there are consultations in the House of Commons, and an omnibus bill of constituency name changes is usually prepared. In other cases, such as the three bills referred to above, the bills are presented together and dealt with at the same time. Such bills are generally passed at all three stages in the House quickly and with unanimous consent.
4.The attempt to consolidate and co-ordinate name changes is commendable, but does not address your Committee's basic concerns. The issue is not the specific proposals to change constituency names, but the fact that since the 1996 electoral representation order came into force, the names of 44 electoral districts have been changed. The present Bill, and Bill C-445, which is being considered concurrently by your Committee, would change another 13 names. If both Bills are approved, the total number of constituency name changes since the 1996 electoral representation order will therefore be 57, or 18.9% of the total of 301 ridings.
5. Section 51 of the Constitution Act, 1867 provides for the readjustment of seats in the House of Commons following each decennial census. The Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act sets out the procedure for drawing boundaries, including the appointment of three-person commissions in each province. The commissions are required to make proposals, receive comments, hold public hearings, and then to report the new electoral boundaries and names. These reports are tabled in the House of Commons, where provision is made for Members to file objections; these are eventually returned to the commissions for their consideration before the reports are finalized and form the basis for the representation order.
6. As the Chief Electoral Officer has explained, the names of electoral districts are the responsibility of the electoral boundaries commissions. The commissions are required to take into account the criteria established by the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, and the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer also reviews the proposed names. Representations can be made by members of the public, as well as Members, with respect to proposed constituency names. Mr. Kingsley noted that no such procedures exist for names that are proposed by individual Members of the House of Commons as Private Members' Bills, particularly when such bills pass through all stages in the rapid process outlined earlier.
7. There are also administrative implications to changing constituency names. Elections Canada has electoral maps, as well as public information documents and other administrative materials which contain constituency names. Each time there is a change, these materials have to be reviewed, and updated. While this can occasionally be done by means of an erratum, there are costs associated with the changes. In addition, Election Canada's informatics system, its Internet site, and other documents must be revised. Other organizations process and publish information containing constituency names, such as the House of Commons, Statistics Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and Human Resources Development Canada, to name just a few. A major expense would ensue if the name of an electoral district were increased beyond 50 characters, including hyphens and spaces, as this would require changes to the data processing system. Two constituency names have been changed since 1996 to include more characters, but so far Elections Canada has managed to deal with the problem administratively. According to the Chief Electoral Officer, an administrative solution has also been found to address the 53 character name change proposed in Bill C-473. Your Committee strongly urges that the 50 character limit be respected.
8. While there are many valid reasons for wanting to change constituency names, your Committee believes that the ad hoc and frequent nature of such changes must be discouraged. It is confusing and there are costs associated with it. There needs to be a degree of permanency to the names of constituencies: they should not be changed whenever there is a newly elected Member or representation from part of a constituency. A clearly established procedure exists under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, which should be followed. This also has the advantage that the decision rests with the neutral three-person commission, and there is opportunity for public notice and input. Since redistribution occurs every 10 years, it would not be inappropriate or inconvenient that name changes only be made in this context.
9. Your Committee understands that extraordinary situations can arise at other times that may require constituency name changes. Your Committee also believes that the process in such cases must be much clearer and more transparent. Your Committee received submissions that reinforced the need for public consultation and input, to respect the fact that residents of a constituency strongly identify with its name. There should be a requirement for some form of public notice in the constituency, and provision for public comments. Guidelines to this effect could be adapted from the procedures set out under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.
OTTAWA, Thursday, June 22, 2000
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to present its
EIGHTH REPORT
Your Committee, to which was referred Bill C-445, An Act to change the name of the electoral district of Rimouski--Mitis, has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Tuesday, June 13, 2000, examined the said Bill and now reports the same without amendment.
Your Committee notes that the observations to its Seventh Report, presented to the Senate earlier this day, also apply to this Bill.
Respectfully submitted,
LORNA MILNE
Chair