Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

GASPÉ – Elected officials in the Gaspé Peninsula are disappointed with the Federal Court’s decision on February 21 to reject the judicial review of the decision of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for the province of Quebec, which eliminated the riding of Avignon–La Mitis–Matane–Matapédia on April 24, 2024. 

“It hurts the heart. It hurts the region. All we want is to be represented like the other regions. If our territory is too large, which does not respect the characteristics, the administrative boundaries, the natural borders, it means that our region cannot be well represented,” says Gaspé Mayor Daniel Côté. 

“What the court has just rendered as a decision is that we will apply the purely mathematical accounting principle and the effective representativeness recognized by the Carter Decision of the Supreme Court, we will put that aside and that will end there. I respect the courts. I hope that this decision will be appealed,” adds the mayor. 

The parties have 30 days to file an appeal. 

Mathieu Lepointe, the president of the Gaspé Peninsula Table of Prefects, shares the disappointment. 

“It is disappointing for the Gaspésie but also for all the regions of the country. It is always a challenge to properly represent our issues and our realities within Parliament in Ottawa, it requires a decent number of MPs,” says Mathieu Lapointe. 

“We saw it recently with the announcement of Kristina Michaud’s departure. We see that it will have concrete impacts on the ground. It will be an even greater challenge for the people who will have to represent these territories that will be immense,” notes the president. 

As a result of the decision, the Matanie and Avignon MRCs have been merged into the Gaspésie-Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine-Listuguj riding, while Matapédia and La Mitis have been incorporated into the Rimouski-La Matapédia riding. 

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Diane Lebouthillier, said she was reserving her comments for the moment. 

Provincial boundaries 

also in question 

The situation is happening again at the provincial level. “We see the same kind of situation happening again. That is why the Table of prefects is very present, even at the legal level, to make our concerns heard and ensure that the Gaspésie does not lose another riding at the provincial level. With two MNAs, it is not too many for the Gaspésie,” says Mr. Lapointe. 

Meanwhile, elected officials of the Laurentides and Centre-du-Québec are contesting the Act that suspended the revision of the map. 

The Quebec Electoral Representation Commission has proposed merging the ridings of Gaspé and Bonaventure, combining the MRCs of Côte-de-Gaspé, Rocher-Percé, Bonaventure and Avignon, into a new Gaspé-Bonaventure riding, while Haute-Gaspésie would be transferred to the riding of Matane-Matapédia, a Lower St. Lawrence riding. 

As of April 30, 2023, Bonaventure had 35,898 registered voters, while Gaspé had 30,131, both well below the minimum threshold. The gap was -29.2% and -40.6% respectively. 

Gaspé ranked as the third least populous riding, behind the Magdalen Islands, which has exceptional status, and Ungava. 

According to projections of the number of voters based on data from the Quebec Institute of Statistics, the gap with respect to the average for Gaspé should soon surpass that of Ungava. 

In 2017, the Commission had maintained Gaspé’s negative exception status and granted the same status to Bonaventure.