Our proposal was grounded initially in the Act itself, which seeks the best possible balance in the size of the different electoral districts and seeks to respect communities of interest so as not to unduly lessen their role.
To that effect, section 15 of the Act reads as follows:
Like its predecessors, the Commission felt it was desirable, with justifiable exceptions, that the vast majority of electoral districts vary by a maximum of 10%, more or less, from the established electoral quota of 101,321 residents. This was the starting point for the Commission’s work. Two changes had arisen since the previous redistribution. The first was a natural change, revealed by data in the 2011 Census. The second change was political in nature: it involved the addition of three electoral districts within Quebec's territory. The redistribution therefore had to be carried out on the basis of a new total of 78 electoral districts and the new electoral quota mentioned earlier.
The addition of three electoral districts produced a domino effect, displacing the boundaries of a significant number of other electoral districts. We also had to bear in mind the objective of seeking a demographic balance among all electoral districts while respecting communities of interest to the best of our knowledge.
Quebec's electoral map became subject to change in consequence of the addition of two electoral districts in Montréal's northern rim and one in its southern rim. Furthermore, a significant population deficit in Eastern Quebec led us to propose a reduction in the number of electoral districts in that region. The Commission then had the opportunity to determine the location of a new electoral district elsewhere in Quebec. The Commission members favoured the Island of Montréal, so as to take account of the population densification projected within that territory. In our opinion, the proposed changes reflected the new reality of Quebec, in line with the current trend toward limiting urban sprawl – a trend from which the City of Montréal is not immune.
However, the reduction in the number of electoral districts in Eastern Quebec had the effect of substantially increasing the population per electoral district in the regions of Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup and Montmagny, beyond the preferred optimal variance of 10% for each electoral district in Quebec. In contrast, the addition of electoral districts in the northern and southern rims of Montréal required that some electoral districts or regions be broken up, such as Vaudreuil-Soulanges and Lanaudière.
These changes led us to seek new names for a large number of electoral districts and to assign names to the three added electoral districts. We drew on the guidelines of the Geographical Names Board of Canada concerning the selection of names for federal electoral districts:
In such cases, we took into consideration the geographic and historical situation of the affected electoral districts. Moreover, while our mission is not cultural, we thought it appropriate to be more creative when naming electoral districts by highlighting the contribution of people who have shaped Quebec's evolution. We had felt this was a great opportunity to recognize women and men without a necessarily political past, such as two women who played a significant role in winning public recognition for the status of women in Quebec. We also thought it appropriate to choose people’s names for existing electoral districts when the changes made to the district appeared considerable enough to warrant a new name.
The Commission was not breaking ground in adopting such an approach, as many electoral districts on the current map (2003) are named after people. We did meet with strong criticism on occasion: "An electoral map is not a pantheon!" Such comments were duly noted, although there were no calls for past choices to be corrected. We need only mention the names of Louis-Hébert, Alfred-Pellan, Jeanne-Le Ber and Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, besides those geographic names combined with the name of a person, such as Chambly—Borduas and Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher. A number of political names could be added to that list, such as Honoré-Mercier and Louis-Saint-Laurent, which seem classified as untouchable! It is worth noting that people’s names are an integral part of the provincial electoral map, designating numerous electoral districts.
We should note, to properly reflect the representations made on that subject, the sometimes enthusiastic approval of those stakeholders who applauded our approach. To avoid any pitfalls in achieving the core objectives of the electoral redistribution process, however, we felt it wise to abandon our original intention of favouring the use of people's names when new names were required; after all, the map we were called to draw is not ours, but rather that of the citizens and their representatives.
Please note that this application does not work correctly in Internet Explorer 8. Please use a newer version of Internet Explorer or another browser such as Firefox or Chrome.