Friday, May 8, 2009

The HUGE variation in populations in BC ridings

At the bottom, the Stikine riding has 12 291 registered voters, at the top is Comox Valley with 47 772 registered voters.

This means a voter in the Stikine riding has an electoral voice that is four times as large as some in Comox.

Each riding should have 34 684 registered voters with a range of plus or minus 25% - 25 773 to 43 355.

There are a total of ten ridings that fall too low in population. All of them are the large rural ones in BC. They should only have six or seven MLAs total, not ten. When the next redistribution process begins in eight years time, the next commission will have to move three to four MLAs from rural BC to urban BC.

The are only three ridings that go over 43 355 registered voters.

These variations are too large and are not legally acceptable in Canada based on the Saskatchewan Reference.

Unless BC creates a set of rules for representation that takes something other than population in consideration, rural BC has to lose seats to urban BC.

No comments: