Bill No. 187 - House of Assembly Act. - Second Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, I am glad to stand and address these amendments to the House of Assembly Act. To start, we are glad to see the move from metes and bounds to digital boundaries. I have to confess that I, myself, know the definition of neither mete nor bound, so it is helpful for all of us, as well as everyone in Nova Scotia, to see a map that clearly shows what those boundaries are.

We recognize the need for effective and fair representation of all Nova Scotians. We respect the work of the Electoral Boundaries Commission that the minister referenced.

One note I would make is that, while we are very glad to see the inclusion of a district for Preston, it is a bit of a misnomer to refer to it as a protected area because it doesn't fall outside of the plus or minus 25 per cent threshold. In fact, it is within that. We're just noting that while there are many smaller ridings that are exceptional ridings - and I know that there are different ways of defining "exceptional riding" - the Preston riding does, in fact, have the requisite number of electors to not fall into that special category.

The one thing we would say about this bill at this point, aside from the metes and bounds, is that there are other issues that were raised briefly by the commission but in a more robust way by the Keefe commission, towards effective electoral representation. The report came out in 2018 around the more systemic factors that could ensure more fair representation, talking about how we engage communities, how we increase voter turnout, and issues around electoral reform and proportional representation.

I think if we're looking at the issue of fair electoral representation in a holistic way, there are a number of things that need attending to. Certainly this is some of them, but the Electoral Boundaries Commission, in their own report, mentioned electoral reform. I think it is something that is worth investigating moving forward.

I suspect we will hear a great deal at the Law Amendments Committee. I look forward to those presentations. There was robust public consultation by the commission. I was pleased to attend a couple of those sessions. I know many of my colleagues did. I'm sure there are still Nova Scotians who would like to have their say around what is contained in this bill, and we look forward to hearing those comments at the Law Amendments Committee.