The north shouldn't get special treatment when the province redraws its riding boundaries, according to one provincial watchdog group.
IntegrityBC is calling for the provincial government to be proactive in getting a clarification from the B.C. Court of Appeal on its proposed changes to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act.
On Wednesday, public comment closed on a white paper outlining the amendments to legislation that directs the panel in charge of recommending new electoral district lines.
In that report, the government suggested the current allotment of 85 seats in the legislature not change, but that 17 ridings in the regions characterized as the North (which includes the two Prince George ridings), Cariboo-Thompson and Columbia-Kootenay be protected.
Under the current legislation, the number of constituents in a specific electoral district can only be above or below the average population per district by 25 per cent, except for "very special circumstances." The proposed change would mean those 17 ridings would be excluded from that rule.
The amendment wouldn't mean that the current boundaries could not be altered. The commission could still adjust the boundaries within those districts to address shifting population.
But those rules might infringe on the right-to-vote provisions set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, according to IntegrityBC.
"What that's going to do, in our estimation, is it's going to create two classes of ridings in British Columbia," said the group's executive director Dermod Travis.
Those in the "first class" would have an average of about 24,000 registered voters among the 17 protected areas. The remaining 68 ridings would make up a "second class" with more than 40,000 voters, on average.
The average number of people each MLA currently represents is 53,900. The number of electoral districts was last increased from 79 to 85 in 2006, but the expansion hasn't kept pace with population growth, according to the white paper.
Travis said they're not arguing the fact that some ridings should be protected. Factoring in how the population is dispersed through a boundary or if geographical features such a mountain ranges would lend itself to creating smaller ridings is important.
But 17 - which is more than the amount of protected ridings in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta combined - is overkill, said Travis.
"We don't believe that the two ridings that form Prince George and the two ridings that form Kamloops require protection as Stikine might or Peace River North or South might," said Travis. "And we think, going from the current 10 ridings that are protected in the province to 17 is simply taking it too far in terms of the number of ridings that require protection."
A new electoral boundaries commission is expected to be struck by May. Legislation requires such an appointment be made no later than one year after general voting day for every second general provincial election.
