Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

CARLETON-SUR-MER – The Gaspé Peninsula wants to intervene in the debate surrounding the legal challenge to the law that paused the process of revising the electoral map for the 2026 election. 

Elected municipal officials from the Laurentides and Centre-du-Québec regions have filed a legal action against the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec and the Attorney General of Quebec to have this law revoked and to resume the process of revising the electoral map. 

The Regroupement des MRC de la Gaspésie has served legal proceedings on the parties in the case. “The message we want to convey is that it is not unanimous among municipal elected officials who want to cancel the law that was made. On the contrary, we are an entity similar to that of the Laurentians and we have a completely divergent point of view on the situation,” explains the Regroupement president, Mathieu Lapointe. 

On May 2, 2024, Quebec’s National Assembly unanimously passed the Act to interrupt the process of delimitation of electoral districts. 

The Gaspé Peninsula MRCs recall that the electoral map on the table was then highly detrimental to the principle of effective representation, directly affecting the representation of the Gaspésie in the democratic institutions of Quebec. 

“At the heart of the debate is the principle of effective representation. This principle was established in 1991 by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Carter decision. Beyond the famous principle of “one voter, one vote”, the electoral map must also include principles such as the vastness of the territory covered by an MNA (Member of the National Assembly), the boundaries of the territories, belonging to the territory, and so on. If we want the voice of the Gaspésie to be heard in Quebec City in the flood of strongly represented urban voices, it is extremely important that the Electoral Act apply this principle recognized by the Supreme Court. That is why we are going to fight. For the voice of Gaspésie, for our future,” adds the mayor of Gaspé and prefect of the MRC of the Côte-de-Gaspé, Daniel Côté.The Gaspé interveners’ request for a conservatory intervention will be heard on November 27 at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse. 

If the Gaspé argument resonates with the court, the region’s arguments may then be heard on the merits of the case in the following months. “The process that is underway is healthy because we need to review the criteria to ensure that, ultimately, the electoral districts must ensure that each citizen is well represented in Quebec City,” emphasizes Mr. Lapointe. 

Recall that the commission suggested merging the ridings of Gaspé and Bonaventure, which include the MRCs of Côte-de-Gaspé, Rocher-Percé, Bonaventure and Avignon, to create Gaspé-Bonaventure, while Haute-Gaspésie would be transferred to the Matane-Matapédia constituency, a Lower St. Lawrence riding. 

As of April 30, 2023, Bonaventure had 35,898 voters and Gaspé 30,131, far from the minimum threshold. The gap was -29.2% and -40.6%, respectively. Gaspé was ranked third among the least populous ridings, behind the Magdalen Islands, which has an exceptional status, and Ungava. 

According to projections of the number of voters based on data from the Institut de la statistique du Québec, the gap with respect to the average for Gaspé should soon surpass that of Ungava. 

In 2017, the commission had maintained the negative exceptional status for Gaspé and granted the same status for Bonaventure. 

However, since the inequalities in representation of these ridings are increasing, the commission did not wish to renew this status. 

In addition to removing a riding in the Gaspésie, the Commission suggested doing the same thing in Montreal to create a riding in the Laurentians and another in Centre-du-Québec.