1964: Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is the practice of abusing electoral riding boundaries to distort the outcome of an election.
Comparing Canada's districts to the United States'
After 1903, constituency boundaries were determined by a parliamentary committee on which the government ordinarily had a majority, thus still getting its own way. These arrangements frequently resulted in outright gerrymandering.
In 1964, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act (EBRA) established a genuinely impartial process for redrawing constituency borders in Canada. The premise underlying the impartiality sought by EBRA is that the responsibility for boundary adjustment must be assigned to formally non-partisan bodies.
The Problem of Disproportionality
Canada has taken forward steps to ensure universal suffrage and equal voice to all Canadians. However, some Canadians are still denied their voice.
Where gerrymandering says I can abuse where you live to distort parliament
, non-proportional systems like First-Past-The-Post do the same.
This brings us to the most recent discussion of fair elections, recognizing that some votes just don't count. And in fair democracy they should.
