Nelson Sergerie
GASPÉ – The Federal Court will not grant the Gaspé Peninsula a reprieve. As a result, the constituency of Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia will disappear on April 24 unless elections are called prior to that date.
In August, Gaspesian lawyer Alexis Deschênes and the organization Droits Collectifs Québec filed motions urging a judge not to eliminate the constituency and requested the suspension of its redesign pending a decision on the merits.
“It’s a disappointing rejection for us. The judge did not consider the criterion of irreparable harm. Indeed, it is hypothetical that there will be elections called before the judgment in this case. We think that it is a hypothesis that there is every chance of happening,” remarks Étienne-Alexis Boucher, General Director of Droits collectifs Québec.
No date has been set for the hearing of merits, although elections must be held no later than October 2025. completed as quickly as possible so that there is no election with the new map when we would find ourselves in an absurd situation of an election being held on a new map which would be deemed unconstitutional or not respecting the Canadian Elections Act, hence the reason for the (procedure) stay,” explains Mr. Boucher.
The dilution of political power in the Gaspé Peninsula is the basic issue. The application for judicial review is based on an opinion issued by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Saskatchewan Provincial Electoral Districts Reference and the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.
On September 6, Alexis Deschênes, who participated in the judicial review, emphasized that the right to vote comes with the right to effective representation.
He explained that the Supreme Court says that effective representation is not just parity of electoral power between different constituencies. We must also take into account other factors such as geography, historical development and communities of interest.
“We simply hope now that the request for a stay has been rejected that all the parties will agree to hold a trial before the elections are called,” mentions the director general.
He hopes that the Attorney General will not put obstacles in the way by filing various challenges before the court.
“We would be lucky to have a trial in the coming months and another six months to obtain a judgment,” recalls Mr. Boucher, who notes that time is starting to run out with the electoral deadline approaching.
If elections were called quickly, protesters would be ready to act swiftly.
“The request would have to be reworked, but the arguments raised would possibly be the same. Simply the hypothetical aspect of irreparable harm would no longer be given that the holding of an election before the trial or the delivery of the decision following the trial, it would become obvious that we would meet the criterion linked to irreparable harm,” maintains Mr. Boucher.
The region unanimously opposed the scenario proposed in September 2022 before the commission in Gaspé and reacted strongly to the submission of the report last June.