Electoral District (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based. It is officially known in Canadian French as a circonscription, but frequently called a comté (county).
Federal electoral districts each return one Member of Parliament (MP) to the Canadian House of Commons; provincial or territorial electoral districts each return one representative — called, depending on the province or territory, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) or Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) — to the provincial or territorial legislature.
While electoral districts in Canada are now exclusively single-member districts, in the past, multiple-member districts were used at both the federal and provincial levels. Alberta had a few districts in its history that returned from two up to seven members: see Calgary, Edmonton and Medicine Hat. British Columbia had a mix of multiple-member districts in Vancouver and single-member districts elsewhere until the 1991 election, and Prince Edward Island had dual-member districts until the 1996 election.
As of June 28, 2004, there are 308 federal electoral districts in Canada, and in accordance with the Fair Representation Act (formerly known as Bill C-20), which received Royal Assent and came into force on December 16, 2011, the number of seats contested in the 2015 election election will rise to 338. One province, Ontario, uses the same boundaries for the electoral districts for its Legislative Assembly in Southern Ontario, while seats in Northern Ontario correspond to the federal districts that were in place before the 2004 adjustment. The other provinces use different electoral districts for their legislatures. Ontario had separate provincial ridings prior to 1999.
Elections Canada is the independent body set up by Parliament to oversee Canadian federal elections.
Read more about Electoral District (Canada): Terminology, Naming Conventions, Boundary Adjustment, Political Issues
Famous quotes containing the words electoral and/or district:
“Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)