May 5th, 2017 Report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission of Prince Edward Island Hon. Gerard Mitchell, Chair Lynn Murray, QC, Commissioner Kerri Carpenter, Commissioner Elizabeth Shaw, Commissioner Elmer MacDonald, Commissioner 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission Report of the PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission Table of Contents s 1 Table of Content 3 Part One - Mandate 5 Part Two - The Considerations 15 Conclusion 17 Part Three - The Proposed New Districts 22 Acknowledgments 25 Schedule A - Names, Maps and Printed Descriptions of Electoral Districts Schedule B - Provincial Map & Districts 1 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission 2 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission Report of the Prince Edw ard Island Electoral Boundaries Commission This is the report of the 2016-17 Prince Edward Island Electoral Boundaries Commission (“the Commission”) established pursuant to section 8 of the Electoral Boundaries Act, R.S.P.E.I. 1988 ap. E-2.1 (“the Act”). , C The Chair of the Commission was appointed by rder in ouncil on November 1st, 2016. The other members of the Commission were appointed by the speaker of the Legislative Assembly on December 6th, 2016.O C The members of the Commission are: Hon. Gerard Mitchell, chair, Lynn Murray Q.C., Elmer MacDonald, Kerri Carpenter and Elizabeth Shaw. Part One Mandate The function of the Commission as set out in the Act is to: (1) review the 27 electoral districts of the province and (2) make a report to the Legislative Assembly setting out its recommendations as to the areas, boundaries, and names of the districts of the Province. The Act directs the Commission to hold public meetings throughout the Province to enable representations to be made by any person as to the area and boundaries of any district. The objective of the review is tonext design thre ande genera establishl election electoral cycles. districts that will provide effective representation for the whole populace of Prince Edward Island in the LegislativeThe Commission Assembly has overno man the date to change the number of electoral districts from the current 27. The Commission has authority to regulate its own procedure and the conduct of its business. 3 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission Considerations Section 17(1) of the Act requires the Commission to take into account the following: 1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; 2. Data from the Register of Electors; 3. Polling divisions from the last general election; 4. Geographical features; 5. Information pertaining to population; 6. Community of interest; 7. Municipal boundaries; 8. Public input; and 9. Guidelines or criteria proposed for the consideration of the Commission by resolution of the Legislative Assembly. In addition, section 17(1) of the Act permits the Commission to consider such other factors it regards as relevant. Section 17(2) of the Act provides that the number of electors in a district cannot be more than 25% above or below the average number of electors of all the proposed districts. 4 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission Part Tw o The Considerations 1.The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms In reviewing current boundaries and proposing new ones the Commission first looked to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the "Charter") for direction. The Charter is part of the constitution which is the supreme law of the land. Section 3 provides that every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly. Reference re Prov.The leading Electoral authority Boundaries interpreting section 3 of the Charter in the context of establishingSask. Boundarieselectoral boundaries Case is the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in , 1991, 2 S.C.R. 158 (hereinafter referred to as the " ") . Writing for the majority of the Supreme Court, McLachlin J. ( now C.J.C.) at pp.183-185 made the1. following important points : The purpose of the right to vote in section 3 of the Charter is to provide each 2. citizen with effective representation in government; The primary, but not the sole, condition for effective representation is relative parity of voting power; 3. Although a citizen's; vote should not be unduly diluted, effective representation often cannot be achieved without taking into account 4. countervailing factors Relative parity of voting power may be undesirable if it detracts from the 5. primary goal of effective representation; Sometimes factors such as geography, regional issues, community history, community; and interests, and minority representation may need to be taken into account to ensure legislative assemblies effectively represent our 6. diversity In the end though, any deviations from parity of voting power must be justified on the grounds that they contribute to the better government of the population as a whole. 5 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission Further, McLachlin J. at pp.194-5 noted three factors that could justify some deviation from equality of voting power. One of the most important, she said, was the fact that rural districts are more difficult to represent than urban ones. Therefore, in her opinion the goal of effective representation Shemay justifyalso noted somewhat geographic lower populations boundaries, in rural such areas; as rivers and municipal boundaries, form natural community dividing lines and therefore natural electoral boundaries. Finally, she indicated, projected population changes may justify a variation from strict equality of voting power at the time the boundaries are drawn. McLachlin J.'s judgement weighs heavily on the work of this Commission as she was interpreting and applying section 3 of the Charter specifically in the context of an electoral boundaries case. Her decision makes it is clear that section. 3 of the Charter requires this Commission in proposing boundaries to balance voter parity and any countervailing factor or factors that apply to the circumstances. The Charter does not guarantee precise equality of voting power but it does demand effective representation for the population as a whole, which often justifies some deviation from parity. However, such deviation must be as limited as possible. 6 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission 2. Data from the Register of Electors In Prince Edward Island redistricting is based on the number of electors, not the population as a whole. Electors are persons entitled to vote in an election to select a representative to serve in the Legislative Assembly. Election Act According to the Register of Electors established and maintained pursuant to section 24.1(1) of the , R.S.P.E.I. 1988, Cap. E-1.1, the number of currently registered electors in the Province is just under 100,000. Dividing that number by 27 (the number of electoral districts) gives an average of approximately 3700 electors per district (hereinafter referred to as the "provincial average"). cause It should be noted that with such a small number of electors it only takes about 370 of them to a 10 % variance in a district. Section 17(2) of the Act provides that the number of electors in a district shall not be more than 25 per cent above, nor more than 25 per cent below, the average number of electors of all the proposed districts. However, the Commission starts from the Charter-based position that every electoral district should contain a number of electors that is as near as possible to the provincial average, except to the extent necessary to vary from that in order to ensure effective representation. 7 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission The following outlines the current number of registered electors in each district and the percentage of variance of that district from the provincial average: District Name Electors Variance 1. Souris- Elmira 3044 -18% 2. Georgetown - St. Peters 3558 -3.78% 3. Montague - Kilmuir 3030 -18.06% 4. Belfast - Murray River 3078 -16.76% 5. Vernon River - Stratford 3411 -7.75% 6. Stratford - Kinlock 5317 +43.79% 7. Morell - Mermaid 3632 -1.78% 8. Tracadie - Hillsborough Park 3853 +4.20% 9. York - Oyster Bed 5017 +35.68% 10. Charlottetown - Sherwood 3770 +1.96% 11. Charlottetown - Parkdale 3381 -8.56% 12. Charlottetown - Victoria Park 2943 -20.41% 13. Charlottetown - Brighton 3130 -15.35% 14. Charlottetown - Lewis Point 3753 +1.50% 15. West Royalty - Springvale 4564 +23.43% 16. Cornwall - Meadowbank 3889 +5.17% 17. Kellys Cross - Cumberland 4445 +20.21% 18. Rustico - Emerald 3929 +6.26% 19. Borden - Kinkora 4063 +9.88% 20. Kensingston - Malpeque 4479 +21.13% 21. Summerside - Wilmot 3865 +4.53% 22. Summerside - St. Eleanors 4007 +8.37% 23. Tyne Valley - Linkletter 3391 -8.29% 24. Evangeline - Miscouche 2653 -28.25% 25. O’Leary - Inverness 3284 -11.19% 26. Alberton - Roseville 3463 -6.35% 27. Tignish - Palmer Road 2888 -21.90% 8 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission As can be seen from the previous chart, three districts exceed or are below the provincial average by more then 25%. Five others are above or below by more than 20%. Three more are above or below by more than 15%. One more is above by more than 10%. The Commission does not believe such variances are justified. It is also notable that not all the districts that are too small are rural. Two districts in Charlottetown (Charlottetown - Victoria Park and Charlottetown - Brighton) are more than 15% below the provincial average and another Charlottetown district (Charlottetown - Parkdale) is under by more than 8%. 9 2017 PEI Electoral Boundaries Commission 3. Polling Divisions from the most recent General Election The Commission looked at the polling divisions from the last general election and, as a result, decided to refrain as much as possible from using roads as boundaries in rural areas (meaning those areas of the Province that are outside the municipal boundaries of Charlottetown, Summerside, Cornwall and Stratford).