BILL M 209 -- 1998: ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES COMMISSION AMENDMENT ACT, 1998 (NORTHERN ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES PROTECTION ACT)

1998/99 Legislative Session: 3rd Session, 36th Parliament
FIRST READING

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.

MR. WEISGERBER

BILL M 209 -- 1998

ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES COMMISSION
AMENDMENT ACT, 1998
(NORTHERN ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES
PROTECTION ACT)

Determining boundaries

1 Section 9 of the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 107, is amended by adding the following subsection:

(3) For the purposes of making proposals under section 3 (2) and notwithstanding subsections 9 (1) (b) and (c), in the case of no more than 4 of the proposed electoral districts, if the commission is of the opinion that all 3 of the following criteria exist in a proposed electoral district, the proposed electoral district may have a population that is as much as 50% below the common statistical Provincial electoral quota of all the proposed electoral districts:

(a) the area of the proposed electoral district exceeds 50,000 square kilometres;

(b) the distance from the Parliament Buildings in Victoria to the nearest boundary of the proposed electoral district by the most direct road route is more than 800 kilometres; and,

(c) the proposed electoral district has a portion of its boundary coterminous with a boundary of the Province of British Columbia.

Explanatory Notes

This Bill protects the parliamentary representation of citizens living in northern British Columbia by ensuring that the commissions, when determining electoral boundaries, must permit up to a 50% population deviation if the proposed electoral district meets three criteria, as set out in the Bill, which recognize the unique geographic considerations of northern British Columbia.

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