Leonard Preyra - MLA for Halifax Citadel – Sable Island

Having each vote carry roughly the same weight is a “cardinal principle” of representative democracy, says Leonard Preyra, Vice-Chairman of the Select Committee on Establishing an Electoral Boundaries Commission. Read Leonard’s comments in the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Metro, and the Cape Breton Post.

The Chronicle-Herald December 31, 2011, p. A1, David Jackson Provincial Reporter

Acadian, black seats lose protection; Opposition says NDP move could prompt legal challenge

The NDP government has eliminated special protection for four seats in the legislature – three in Acadian areas and one in an African-Nova Scotian district – in the next setting of electoral boundaries.

Both opposition parties say the move could set up a legal challenge.

At issue is the past consideration given to the Argyle, Clare, Richmond and Preston constituencies.

The number of voters in them was allowed to be much smaller than the average in the province’s 52 constituencies. In the other 48 ridings, the number had to be within 25 per cent of the average, but that didn’t apply in the four ridings specified, in the interest of promoting minority representation of the Acadian and black communities.

The NDP-dominated committee that set the terms of reference for a new electoral boundaries commission voted Friday to require all constituencies to have within 25 per cent of the average number of voters.

New Democrat Leonard Preyra, the committee’s vice-chairman, said having each vote carry roughly the same weight is a “cardinal principle” of representative democracy.

“There will be communities of interest, there will be linguistic communities, there will be geographic communities that will be spread that we will have to make some accommodation for, and so we’re saying that there could be a 25 per cent variance,” said Preyra, filling in for chairman Ross Landry, the justice minister. 

“The general principle is that we should aspire as far as possible to have each individual vote count equally, and to have each constituency be roughly equal.”

The opposition parties disagreed with the terms of reference and filed a dissenting opinion.

Liberal MLA Andrew Younger said he doesn’t think the terms the New Democrats set are legal because they don’t allow variances outside the 25 per cent to accommodate minorities.

“It’s our position that it’s not, that it violates the rulings of the Supreme Court, and it’s our expectation that the Acadian Federation in particular will be filing legal action over this,” Younger said.

A spokesperson for the Federation Acadienne de la Nouvelle-Ecosse could not be reached for comment.

Preyra said the ruling that Younger referred to says restricting boundaries to pure parity of votes would be a disservice to communities of interest. But he said it doesn’t say “there’s an open season, that you can establish huge disparities.”

Population information the committee released showed that, as of Dec. 13, Argyle was 54 per cent smaller than the average riding size, Clare was 52 per cent smaller, Richmond 45 and Preston 44.

At the other end, Halifax Clayton Park was 50 per cent larger, Bedford-Birch Cove was 48 per cent bigger and Dartmouth South-Portland Valley was 40 per cent larger.

Tory Chris d’Entremont, the Argyle MLA, said the Acadian seats have worked well in the past, and they help support the Acadian school board and Universite Ste-Anne and promote services in French for Nova Scotians.

“The Dexter government has really said that we don’t want to have Acadian seats, and we don’t want to have African-Nova Scotian seats,” d’Entremont said.
He said the new boundaries will likely mean more seats in Halifax Regional Municipality, where the NDP has its support base.

Liberal Michel Samson, the Richmond MLA, said the minority seats were established to create winning conditions for the minorities. That’s largely been the case in the Acadian ridings, while the Preston seat, created in 1993, hasn’t had a black MLA since 1999.

Samson said the government’s move to eliminate protection for the Acadian seats sends a mixed message to Nova Scotians.

On the one hand, there’s an Acadian school board, a French university and services for the French community enshrined into law, but on the other hand, the government now wants to eliminate seats for reasons of equality, Samson said.

“Unfortunately, our province is not all equal, and there are special considerations,” he said.

“I think that’s what makes us the great province that we are, that we do look at the needs of minorities, we do look at the needs of underprivileged groups, and we do everything possible to make sure that they have an equal say in our province.

“The actions today basically, I think, set that clock back, and the question I think that has to be asked, especially for minorities in this province, is what’s next?”
MLAs from the three parties did agree on the commission members.

Former university professor Teresa MacNeil of Cape Breton is the chairwoman, while Saint Mary’s University president Colin Dodds is the vice-chairman. Dodds was chairman of the last boundaries commission in 2002.

Other members are Jill Grant and Rustum Southwell of Halifax Regional Municipality, Jim Bickerton of Antigonish, Douglas Peach of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Paul Gaudet of Saulnierville and Barbara Feeney of Mahone Bay.

They’ll get new census information in February or March, Preyra said, and hold public meetings as part of their work.

The commission can recommend up to 52 seats, the current number in the legislature, but could suggest fewer. Boundaries are reset every 10 years to reflect population shifts.

The deadline for an interim report is May 31. After that, there will be more public meetings, and a final report will be due by Aug. 31.

Preyra said the government will then bring in legislation with the new boundaries in the fall. Premier Darrell Dexter has said the new boundaries will be in place before the next election.

Metro, Cape Breton Post

December 30 & 31, 2011, Canadian Press

Nova Scotia government accused of squelching minority rights

Halifax – The Nova Scotia government is eroding minority rights by altering electoral boundary rules in a way that will hurt Acadians and African Nova Scotians, the opposition Conservatives warned Friday.

Tory Leader Jamie Baillie issued a statement saying changes made to the Electoral Boundaries Commission – approved late Friday by an NDP-dominated select committee – will lead to the elimination of four seats that represent small populations of those minority groups.

“Under cover of the looming New Year holiday, an NDP majority voted … to effectively eliminate the protected seats that have traditionally allowed Acadians and African Nova Scotians a realistic chance to elect representation from their own communities,” Baillie said in the statement.

“What they did, and the sneaky way they did it, was utterly disrespectful to Acadians and African Nova Scotians.”

However, an NDP member of the committee, Leonard Preyra, said the Tories were wrong to assume the end is near for the Acadian ridings of Argyle, Clare and Richmond, and the African Nova Scotian riding of Preston.

“They won’t disappear and there will be a larger number of constituencies affected,” he said in an interview, adding that the changes are needed to make sure voters receive equal representation.

“A cardinal principle of representative democracy … is that constituencies should be roughly equal in size.”

Preyra said the boundaries of the four ridings, which all have smaller-than-average populations, will be changed to reflect a new rule that says the population of each constituency can’t be 25 per cent above or below the overall average.

However, he said the boundaries could be changed without eliminating the ridings themselves.

In the 10 years since the province’s electoral boundaries were last reviewed, population shifts have led to over-representation for some and under-representation for others.

The rural district of Argyle, for example, has 6,372 voters, while the suburban district of Bedford-Birch Cove is roughly three times the size with 20,550 voters.

“But we accept the fact that certain communities of interest, certain cultural and linguistic minorities and large geographic constituencies will have to have some kind of special accommodation,” Preyra said. “The commission can gerrymander boundaries to make that possible.”

That’s why the 25 per cent rule was put in place, he said, noting that the difference between the largest and smallest ridings could still amount to 50 per cent.

As well, Preyra stressed that no changes will be made without public consultation.

But the Conservatives insisted the NDP rammed through the change to get rid of constituencies that are not held by New Democrats.

“This kind of crass manoeuvre by the NDP is a despicable deed,” said Chris d’Entremont, the Tory house leader and the member for Argyle.

“The re-election campaign of (Premier) Darrell Dexter has started with him stabbing minorities – both Acadian and African Nova Scotian – right in the back.”

Preyra said that argument misses the mark because there are 14 constituencies that are either too big or too small to keep their current boundaries.

When all 14 ridings are considered, the New Democrats will also lose their share of voter support, he said.