Bill C-69

DUTIES OF CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER AND COMMISSION FOLLOWING EVERY QUINQUENNIAL AND DECENNIAL CENSUS

(a) cause a notice to be published in the Canada Gazette setting out

(i) the name of each such province, and

(ii) the name of any province for which no such commission is to be established by virtue of subsection 3(2) or 4(2), as the case may be; and

(b) cause the notice to be sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Minister and the chief justice of each province.

(a) not later than ten days following the day on which the notice referred to in paragraph (3)(b) is sent, send a notice to the Minister and the chief justice of the province indicating that an electoral boundaries commission shall be established for that province; and

(b) cause a notice to be published in the Canada Gazette setting out the name of the province.

(a) forthwith after a commission is established send a copy of the return referred to in subsection (1) to the chairperson of that commission; and

(b) prepare maps that illustrate the distribution of population in each province and supply those maps to the appropriate electoral boundaries commission.

(a) for each electoral district in the province, the population of the district as stated by the Chief Statistician in the return following the last quinquennial census or decennial census, as the case may be;

(b) the variation, expressed in terms of a percentage, of the population of each electoral district from the electoral quota of the province calculated in the manner described in subparagraph 19(2)(a)(i) or (ii), as the case may be;

(c) a general statement describing the manner in which the commission intends to proceed with the readjustment of electoral boundaries; and

(d) an invitation to all interested persons to submit written comments to the commission within a period of thirty days following the publication of the notice under subsection (2).

(a) publish the notice referred to in subsection (1) in the Canada Gazette;

(b) send a copy of the notice to every registered political party and to every member of the House of Commons; and

(c) disseminate to the public, by whatever method the Chief Electoral Officer deems appropriate, information about the contents of the notice.

(a) the division of the province into electoral districts and the description of the boundaries thereof shall proceed on the basis that the population of each electoral district in the province as a result thereof shall, as closely as is reasonably possible, correspond to the electoral quota for the province but in no case shall it vary by more than 25 per cent from that quota, which shall be calculated as follows:

(i) in the case of a report that is being prepared following a quinquennial cen sus, the quotient obtained by dividing

(A) the population of the province as ascertained by that census

by

(B) the number of members of the House of Commons assigned to the province in the representation order that is in force at the time the report is being prepared, and

(ii) in the case of a report that is being prepared following a decennial census, the quotient obtained by dividing

(A) the population of the province as ascertained by that census

by

(B) the number of members of the House of Commons to be assigned to the province as calculated by the Chief Electoral Officer under subsection 16(2);

(b) the commission shall consider the following in determining reasonable electoral district boundaries:

(i) community of interest,

(ii) a manageable geographic size for districts in sparsely populated, rural or northern regions of the province, and

(iii) the probability that there will be a substantial increase in the population of an electoral district in the province in the next five years; and

(c) the commission shall recommend changes to existing electoral district boundaries only where the factors considered under paragraph (b) are sufficiently significant to warrant such a recommendation.

HEARINGS BY COMMISSIONS

(a) the plan selected under subsection 18(3) along with the map or drawing required to accompany the plan under subsection 18(2), a description of the boundaries, the population of each electoral district and the name to be given to each electoral district in the province;

(b) the map or drawing required under subsection 18(2) to accompany each of the two other plans prepared by the commission under section 18 but not selected under that section as the plan the commission proposes to use to readjust the electoral boundaries in the province;

(c) a statement indicating that the three plans prepared by the commission under section 18 as well as the map or drawing to accompany each of those plans may be obtained, free of charge, on request by any person, from the commission or the Chief Electoral Officer at the addresses set out in the notice;

(d) the date, time and place of the hearing;

(e) an invitation to all interested persons to make representations before the commission; and

(f) a statement indicating that no representation by an interested person shall be heard by the commission at the hearing unless notice in writing is received by the commission not later than fifty-three days after the date of the publication of the notice under subsection (4), stating the name and address of the person who is seeking to make the representation and indicating concisely the nature of the representation and the interest of the person.

(a) publish the notice referred to in subsection (3) in the Canada Gazette; and

(b) disseminate to the public, by whatever method the Chief Electoral Officer deems appropriate, the fact that any document referred to in the notice may be obtained, free of charge, on request by any person, from the commission or the Chief Electoral Officer at the addresses set out in the notice.

(a) a commission makes a proposal to amend the boundaries of an electoral district as set out in its plan selected under subsection 18(3), and

(b) at least 25 per cent of the total population in any electoral district that

(i) was not within the boundaries of the electoral district as set out in the plan will, as a result of the proposed amend ment, be within the amended boundaries of that district, or

(ii) was within the boundaries of the electoral district as set out in the plan will not, as a result of the proposed amend ment, be within the amended boundaries of that district,

(a) a map or drawing illustrating the proposed amendment;

(b) the percentage of the population in each electoral district that will be affected by the proposed amendment in a way described in subparagraph (1)(b)(i) or (ii);

(c) a statement indicating that the amended plan and the reasons for the amendment may be obtained free of charge, on request by any person, from the commission or the Chief Electoral Officer at the addresses set out in the notice;

(d) the date, time and place of the hearing;

(e) an invitation to all interested persons to make representations before the commission respecting the proposed amendment; and

(f) a statement indicating that no representation by an interested person shall be heard by the commission at the hearing unless notice in writing is received by the commission not later than seven days before the hearing is held, stating the name and address of the person who is seeking to make the representation and indicating concisely the nature of the representation and the interest of the person.