James Bowden – författare

Where to Draw the Line covers in great depth the most recent federal electoral readjustment – what Elections Canada calls Redistribution 2022 – and all the steps which the ten Federal Electoral Boundaries Commissions (FEBCs) completed under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act (EBRA) in comparison to all the previous federal electoral redistributions from the 1960s to the 2010s. Political scientist James W.J. Bowden tackles the fundamental tension in electoral boundary-setting, contrasting competing theories of parliamentary representation and examining how boundaries commissions balance the equality of population per riding with the preservation of communities of interest. Bowden elucidates the judicial fallout of Redistribution 2022 in the form of two cases brought before the Federal Court of Canada while also looking ahead and helping readers prepare for the next electoral readjustment in the 2030s. The statistics throughout reveal the central paradox of electoral redistribution in Canada: from the 1960s to the 2020s, the malapportionment of MPs per province increased steadily, while the disproportionality of MPs per person within each province decreased over the same period. Readjusting federal electoral boundaries seems like the preserve of bespectacled technocrats or aggressive pedants rather than the stuff that stirs the passions of a people. But the question of where to draw the line strikes at the heart of how the House of Commons represents Canadians and therefore how Canadians govern themselves.

Representation by Population in the House of Commons covers the history of the methods through which section 51 of the Constitution Act, 1867 has allocated MPs in the House of Commons to the provinces based on their populations. The book also looks at the history of gerrymandering, the origin of independent federal electoral boundaries commissions, and contrasting theories of what political representation means. Electoral politics expert James W.J. Bowden approaches the topic systematically, measuring the malapportionment of each decade from the 1860s to the 2020s using the Loosemore-Hanby Index, rating each of the seven representation formulas under section 51 accordingly, and suggesting how Parliament could amend this formula to lower the malapportionment of MPs per province. While Parliament could lower malapportionment on its own, only a constitutional amendment under the unanimous procedure could eliminate it entirely. Consequently, Ontarians, Albertans, and British Columbians will continue to count for less than Canadians in the other seven provinces. Bowden shows that achieving agreement on the nature of representation has proved impossible for Canadians, who must now muddle through malapportionment and disproportionality, continuously tinkering with incremental changes at the margins while avoiding radical reforms. This book provides essential context for understanding the past, present, and future of representation in the House of Commons.