Electoral redistricting: Federal Pontiac riding renamed Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi
Electoral redistricting: Federal Pontiac riding renamed Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi
On February 1, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Quebec released its report on the public consultations held last fall on the proposed changes to the federal electoral districts, including the riding of Pontiac.
The analysis starts by pointing out that the Pontiac riding prior to these changes had a population nearly 20% larger than the provincial average, at 129,781 people. However, the larger consideration at play in the region was the creation of the new Les Pays-d’en-Haut riding next door in the Laurentians, which required some boundaries in the Outaouais to be re-jigged.
The commission had initially proposed that sections of MRC La-Vallée-de-la-Gatineau and Les Collines-de-l’Outaouais be incorporated into the Laurentides—Labelle riding, which was met with strong criticism, according to the report. Instead, the region’s elected officials proposed the following changes, in order to keep the region’s MRCs largely within the same ridings, which were accepted by the commission:
- Withdraw the MRC of La-Vallée-de-la-Gatineau from the electoral district of Laurentides—Labelle and reintegrate it into the electoral district of Pontiac;
- Preserve the integrity of the MRC of Papineau by keeping the municipalities of Val-des-Bois and Bowman in the electoral district of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation instead of transferring them to the electoral district of Laurentides—Labelle;
- Withdraw those parts of the municipalities of La Pêche and Val-des-Monts (MRC of Les Collines-de-l’Outaouais) from the electoral district of Laurentides—Labelle to which the Commission had proposed they be transferred, keep the first one (La Pêche) in the electoral district of Pontiac and integrate the second one (Val-des-Monts) into the electoral district of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation;
- Withdraw that part of the municipality of Chelsea that the Commission proposed to integrate into the electoral district of Hull—Aylmer and transfer it to the electoral district of Pontiac so that it is entirely in that electoral district;
- Withdraw that part of the Township Municipality of Amherst (MRC of Les Laurentides) which was to be part of the electoral district of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation and transfer it to the electoral district of Laurentides—Labelle so that the municipality is entirely in that electoral district;
- Withdraw part of the municipality of Mirabel from the electoral district of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation and integrate it into the electoral district of Mirabel;
- Withdraw the western part of district 18 (Masson-Angers/City of Gatineau) from the electoral district of Gatineau and integrate it into the electoral district of Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation so that it is entirely in that electoral district; and
- And lastly, in the same spirit, withdraw the northern parts of district 10 (Limbour/City of Gatineau) and district 13 (Carrefour-de-l’Hôpital/City of Gatineau) from the electoral district of Pontiac and integrate them into the electoral district of Gatineau so that both districts are entirely in that electoral district.
The results mean that no municipality (with the exception of Gatineau) will fall into several different electoral districts. It reduces the Pontiac riding’s population slightly to 111,138, which is more in line with the provincial average.
The report also notes that changing the name of the riding from Pontiac to Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi was “well received by the vast majority of stakeholders” as it reflects the presence of the Algonquin Anishinabeg First Nation.
These changes will only come into effect on April 2024.
The full report is available here. The portion pertaining specifically to the Pontiac is available here (scroll down to the bottom for the Outaouais section).
