DAN DAVIES – At the end of the day, equality also means that our rural voices deserve the same strength and representation as our urban ones
Earlier in the Legislative session in Victoria, the NDP government introduced a bill entitled the Electoral Boundaries Commission Amendment Act, 2021. As harmless as this bill sounds, it has been one of the more contentious and hotly-debated bills of the spring session, and for good reason. This bill, which just passed (our whole caucus opposed it) has the potential to reduce rural representation and the rural voice in Victoria while increasing representation in more urban areas like Vancouver. While our Electoral Boundaries Commission reviews our riding boundaries once every two elections, the general goal is to provide equal representation for all British Columbians. But in recognition of the vast area and many geographic challenges of our province, the Commission itself has said that effective representation is not simply anchored to equality of population. A 2015 report stated that, “factors like geography, community history, community interests and minority representation” shoul...