.... I. fl I Fm —1 = m an CD 0 CD xi 03 m r m m C) an 0 0 -1 C xi = m C r r xi 0 m 0 -D C C 0 xi C -1 0 C -n r m C,) 0 C Z13 C) C 0 C m 0 -‘ Co Z0 Co C,) - 0 The Report of the 1993 Electoral Boundaries Commission for Newfoundland and Labrador ( Submitted to The Honourable Edward M. Roberts, Q.C. Minister of Justice and Attorney General for the Province ofNewfoundland June, 1994 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE FOREWARD vii Interpretative Notes TERMINOLOGY ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 1 The Constitution of the Commission 1 Acknowledgements 2 The Process of Changing Boundaries 2 Philosophy and Approach to the Task of Redistribution 3 The Name of This Commission 5 CHAPTER 2 THE COMMISSION’S ORIGINAL MANDATE 7 First Meetings of the Commission 7 The Original Mandate of the Commission 7 The Development of the Commission’s First Proposal 9 CHAPTER 3 THE COMMISSION’S 40 SEAT PROPOSAL 11 The 40 SeatProposal 11 Judicial Interpretation - The Commission’s First Proposal and The Saskatchewan Reference Case 14 Page i TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER 4 REACTION TO THE FORTY DISTRICT PROPOSAL 23 General Reaction to the Forty Seat Proposal 23 Regional Reaction to the Commission’s 40 Seat Proposal 26 Reaction From the Labrador Region 26 Reaction From the Great Northern Peninsula 33 Reaction From the Humber Valley (Including White Bay North) and the Baie Verte Peninsula Areas 35 Reaction From the Corner Brook/Bay of Islands Area 37 Reaction From the Stephenville-Port au Port Peninsula-St. George’s Area 38 Reaction From the Southwest Coast 41 Reaction From the Central NewfoundlandlNotre Dame Bay Region 42 Reaction From the Fogo-Bonavista North-Terra Nova Areas 44 Reaction From the Bonavista South-Trinity North Area 46 Reaction From the Burin Peninsula Area 48 Reaction From the Trinity Bay, North Shore of Conception Bay, Isthmus of Avalon and Placentia Areas 51 Reaction From the Conception Bay North/Conception Bay SouthAreas 53 Reaction From the St. Mary’s-The Capes-Southern Shore Area 54 Reaction From the Northeast Avalon Region 56 Reaction From the St. John’s-Mount Pearl Region 58 Page ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Commission Rejoinder 62 The End of Round One of the Commission’s Proceedings 63 CHAPTER 5 THE AMENDED MANDATE 67 The Amended Mandate 67 The Commission’s Reaction to the Amended Mandate 71 The Development of the Second Proposal 72 The Release of the Second Proposal 74 CHAPTER 6 THE COMMISSION’S 44 DISTRICT PROPOSAL 75 The 44 Seat Proposal 75 CHAPTER 7 PUBLIC REACTION TO THE COMMISSION’S 44 DISTRICT PROPOSAL 79 General Reaction to the 44 Seat Proposal 79 The Labrador Region 79 Commission Reaction and Analysis 82 Reaction from the Great Northern Peninsula Area 83 Commission Reaction and Analysis 86 The Humber Valley, White Bay/Baie Verte Peninsula (Including Great Harbour Deep) Area 88 Commission Reaction and Analysis 90 The Corner Brook Region 92 Commission Reaction and Analysis 93 Page iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE The Stephenville-Port au Port-St. George’s Region 94 Commission Reaction and Analysis 96 The Southwest Coast 99 Commission Reaction and Analysis 100 The Green Bay/Central Newfoundland/Exploits! Notre Dame Bay Areas 102 Commission Reaction and Analysis 105 The Northeast Coast, Northeast Islands, Terra Nova and Bonavista Peninsula Areas 107 Commission Reaction and Analysis 110 The Trinity Northj’Burin Peninsula Areas 114 Commission Reaction and Analysis 117 The Avalon Peninsula (excluding the St. John’s/Mount Pearl and Northeast Avalon Areas) 118 The Northeast Avalon Area 126 The St. John’s/Mount Pearl Area 127 Commission Reaction and Analysis 130 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION 137 V Other Considerations 141 Tribute To Our Staff 141 Others 142 Concluding Remarks 143 L Page iv APPENDICES PAGE (_. LIST OF APPENDICES 145 APPENDIX I - List of Locations Where the Commission Met During Rounds One and Two of Its Hearings and of Persons Who Made Submissions to the Commission APPENDIX II - Electoral Boundaries Act R.S.N. 1990 Ch. E-4 (with Amendments to January 31, 1993) - - APPENDIX III 1993 Electoral Boundaries Commission for Newfoundland and Labrador Notice of Proposal and of Public Hearings APPENDIX IV - Percentage Variance From Quotient of Proposed Saskatchewan Constituencies APPENDIX V - Electoral Boundaries Act R.S.N. 1990 Ch. E-4 (with Amendments to December 31, 1993) APPENDIX VI - 1993 Electoral Boundaries Commission for Newfoundland and Labrador Notice of Second Proposal and of Public Hearings APPENDIX VII - Descriptions, Populations and Mapping of the Proposed Four Labrador Districts APPENDIX VIII - Descriptions, Populations and Mapping of the 44 Districts Recommended By The Commission C Page v FOREWARD FOREWARD Interpretative Notes Readers will note that in certain places the Commission has used the title(s) of various presenters. This was done for the sake of clarity and exposition. It does not indicate that the Commission placed any greater weight on that presentation than on one where the presenter is not specifically named. Unless otherwise stated all population figures referenced in this report are based on the results of the 1991 Census conducted by Statistics Canada. Page vii FORE WARD ( Page viii TERMINOLOGY TERMINOLOGY In this report the following terms shall have the following meanings: Act: unless the context otherwise indicates means the Electoral Boundaries Act, R.S.N. 1990 Chapter C-4 inclusive of all amendments except those made in December, 1993. Amended Act: means the Electoral Boundaries Act, R.S.N. 1990 Chapter C-4 inclusive of all amendments. Amended Mandate: means the mandate of the Commission as established and changed by the December, 1993 amendments to the Electoral Boundaries Act. Commission: means the 1993 Electoral Boundaries Commission for Newfoundland and Labrador, more particularly referred to in the Act as the “Newfoundland Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission.” First Proposal: means the 40 district proposal that the Commission developed under its Original Mandate. M.H.A. means a Member of the House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland. Original Mandate: means the mandate given to the Commission as established by the terms of the Electoral Boundaries Act, R.S.N. 1990 Chapter C-4 prior to its amendment in December, 1993. Second Proposal: means the 44 district proposal that the Commission developed under its Amended Mandate. Page ix TERMiNOLOGY Page x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW It was an Italian Philosopher who once said that: “There is nothing more perilous in its pursuit, dangerous in its conduct or uncertain in its outcome than the introduction of a new order of things.” The Constitution of the Commission The 1993 Electoral Boundaries Commission for Newfoundland and Labrador was appointed in early 1993. The Commission’s five members are as follows: the Honourable John W. Mahoney, a Justice ofthe Court ofAppeal, of St. John’s, Newfoundland, is our Chairperson. He was appointed by the Chief Justice of Newfoundland, the Honourable Noel Goodridge on January 27, 1993 in accordance with Section 3(3) of the Act which reads: “The Chairperson of the Commission shall be appointed by the Chief Justice of Newfoundland from among the Judges of the Court of Appeal and the Trial Division, but where there is no Judge able or free to act as Chairperson, the Chief Justice shall appoint a Chairperson from among those persons resident in the Province whom he or she considers suitable.” Ms. Beatrice T. Watts, educator and retired teacher of Northwest River, Labrador, is our Vice Chair. Our other members are: Mr. Raymond J. Baird, businessman and former M.H.A., of Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Commissioner; Ms. Dorothy C. Inglis, women’s rights activist and columnist of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Commissioner; and Mr. John A. Nolan, broadcaster and former M.H.A., from Topsail Pond, Newfoundland, Commissioner. We were appointed in April, 1993 by the then Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland, the Honourable Thomas Lush in keeping with Section 3(5) of the Act, which reads: Pagel CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW “The 4 members of the Commission other than the Chairperson shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly from among those persons resident in the Province whom the Speaker considers suitable;” The staff of the Commission are as follows. Legal Counsel to the Commission is Mr. David W. Jones of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Mrs. Joan Cook, also of St. John’s, is our Executive Secretary, and Mrs. Diane Blackmore of Mount Pearl, Newfoundland is Secretary to the Commission. Statistical information was provided by Mr. Hugh Ridler, of the Newfoundland Statistics Agency. Cartographic and map making services were provided to the Commission by Mr. Jeff Wood of the Department of Environment and Lands, Crown Lands Division. Acknowledgements At the outset we would like to express our thanks and gratitude to all those Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who corresponded with and appeared before this Commission. Without your help and guidance this report would not be possible. The Process of Changing Boundaries This is the third such Commission in the history of this Province. The first was chaired by Mr. Justice James Higgins in 1973 and the second by Mr. Justice Rupert Bartlett in 1983. Unlike these other Commissions, however, this is the first Commission in the history of the Province that has been asked to produce a report recommending to the House of Assembly a reduction in the number of electoral districts. To our knowledge this is the first Commission to have a representative from Labrador, the first Commission to have any female members or a female Vice-Chair, and the first Commission to have a member representative from each of the Province’s three major political parties.