Redrawing Democracy: Exploring the Modern Landscape of the Electoral Boundaries Revolution in the Maritimes

Abstract

In R.K Carty’s 1985 study of Canada’s “Electoral Boundaries Revolution,” he explored the advances in electoral redistribution by both federal and provincial governments since the 1960s in their pursuit to adopt independent boundaries commissions. He concluded that Canada faced an unfinished revolution because several provinces, most notably the three Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), did not implement the independent commissioner model. This issue was dominant until 1991, when the Carter decision sparked the beginning of the Electoral Boundaries Revolution in the Maritime region. Each province adopted the independent commissioners’ model and conducted electoral redistribution on a fixed schedule. However, nearly thirty years have passed since this decision, and while scholars have widely documented the build-up to the revolution, nobody has captured the landscape of electoral redistribution exercises across the region in the twenty-first century. This thesis provides an updated analysis of the redistricting landscape in the Maritimes over the past three decades. More specifically, it analyzes whether continuity or change characterizes the commissioners’ approach to redistricting exercises during this timeframe. Analyzing partisan, legal, and public influences on redistricting process, I determined that continuity and change characterize commissioners’ decisions.