Premier McGuinty and the other premiers will be meeting with Mr. Harper on a variety of issues. One item Mr. McGuinty is expected to raise is more MPs for Ontario. Canada needs more MPs about as much as Britney Spears needs more media attention. More politicians usually means more people thinking up new schemes to spend other peoples' money. Nevertheless, the Harper government is forced by law to add more seats to Parliament starting in 2011.
The challenge the feds face in adding more seats is how to do it fairly; especially given the increasing criticisms of the premiers, with Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty leading the attack. Instead of simply barking, however, Mr. McGuinty should either forward a clear proposal that treats all provinces fairly or, instead, focus on other important issues like the economy.
Under the current seat redistribution model, if the Conservatives chose not to change how the increase is calculated, there would be 4 new seats in Ontario, 1 in Alberta and 2 in BC. This increase was sufficient for Mr. McGuinty until the Prime Minister proposed to add 10 more seats for Ontario, 5 for Alberta and 7 for BC. Suddenly, Mr. McGuinty thinks Ontario should get 20 or more seats!
This sudden shift appears more partisan than principled. Mr. McGuinty said and did nothing when former Prime Minister Paul Martin introduced legislation in 2004 for redistribution. Nonetheless, seat distribution to bring some semblance of representation by population will be necessary today, or else things will be really out of whack ten years from now. Accountable government requires no less.
Right now, Canada has nothing close to representation by population. Instead, we have a failed and arbitrary patchwork of representation balancing regional interests and population. The result is that the few growing provinces - Alberta, B.C. and Ontario - are increasingly under-represented compared to all others. PEI is constitutionally guaranteed 4 MPs because no province may have fewer MPs than senators. This means that today in PEI, on average, each MP only represents 34,000 people. Quebec is legislatively guaranteed 75 seats - for 103,000 people per MP - because no province may have fewer MPs than they did in 1985. Each of the three Territories has an MP with an average close to that of PEI. Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba range from 71,000 to 85,000 people per MP. Alberta has been the worst treated at 125,000 per MP; with BC at 124,000 and Ontario at 121,000 respectively.
The objective of Mr. Harper's new plan is to begin reducing the gross discrepancy that exists today between provinces with special treatment like PEI and Quebec and the provincial engines of population growth. His proposal balances both a reduction in the inequality between provinces against minimizing the rate of growth of Parliament.
Mr. McGuinty may want more MPs for Ontario. Fair enough. But let's see some thoughtful proposals on the table, keeping in mind that Alberta and BC are even worse off than Ontario regarding representation by population.
