{"id":622457,"date":"2026-04-23T03:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622457\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:26:12","slug":"supreme-court-rules-quebecs-move-to-delay-adoption-of-new-electoral-map-is-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622457\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court rules Quebec\u2019s move to delay adoption of new electoral map is unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s written reasons in the Quebec case – to be published at a later date – could have wider implications, with Alberta this week restarting the process of overhauling its own electoral map.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Wednesday that a Quebec law delaying the adoption of a new electoral map is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Chief Justice Richard Wagner announced the 7-2 ruling in the afternoon, after the top court heard the case in the morning. Quebec\u2019s next provincial election is on Oct. 5. <\/p>\n

The Supreme Court will publish its reasons at a later date. The ruling upholds a judgment last December from the Quebec Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

The case on the composition of Quebec\u2019s 125 ridings and who has the final say on the boundaries illustrates the political tension over population declines in some regions and gains in others. Any changes must ensure all votes are accorded what a 1991 Supreme Court precedent called \u201ceffective representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s eventual written reasons in the Quebec case could also soon have wider implications. Alberta is working on a new electoral map, and Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s<\/a> United Conservative Party this week restarted the process after rejecting an independent commission\u2019s proposal. The Opposition and other critics accused Ms. Smith of gerrymandering<\/a> \u2013 where an incumbent government redraws riding boundaries to its advantage.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s UCP government votes to restart process of overhauling provincial electoral map<\/a><\/p>\n

Gerrymandering wasn\u2019t the issue in the Quebec case, but the fundamental question of voter representation was a key issue at the top court. Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms \u2013 on democratic rights \u2013 guarantees only the rights of citizens to vote and to run in a provincial or federal election.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Quebec\u2019s Commission de la repr\u00e9sentation \u00e9lectorale proposed a new map that would reduce three ridings in the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula northeast of Quebec City to two. A riding in east Montreal was also cut. Two new ridings were added: one in Centre-du-Qu\u00e9bec between Montreal and Quebec City; and one northwest of Montreal in the Laurentians.<\/p>\n

In May, 2024, parties in the National Assembly unanimously passed a law to postpone the proposed map until after this year\u2019s election. A group of elected officials from the Laurentians challenged the law in court and won.<\/p>\n

After the Supreme Court judgment on Wednesday, Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette said her government will table another law, with opposition parties, to protect the two ridings set to be cut from the map. <\/p>\n

Last December, the province\u2019s top court, the Quebec Court of Appeal, ruled the 2024 law violated Section 3 of the Charter and was unconstitutional. The appeal court said the government decision negatively affected voters in Centre-du-Qu\u00e9bec and the Laurentians. It also marked a circumvention of the Quebec Election Act\u2019s independent review process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe existence of parliamentary consensus, such as a unanimous vote on any measure, cannot serve as justification for a violation of a Charter right,\u201d the appeal court said in a summary of its decision.<\/p>\n

Three conservative-led provinces, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan, supported Quebec in court. The provinces all argued that the Supreme Court should defer to legislatures on questions of voters\u2019 effective representation.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association was an intervener at the Supreme Court. Ana\u00efs Bussi\u00e8res McNicoll, a director at the association, said that while the Quebec situation isn\u2019t gerrymandering, elected officials drawing electoral maps is a clear sign of apparent bias.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were there to sound the alarm,\u201d Ms. McNicoll said.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Possible changes to Alberta\u2019s electoral map put democracy at risk<\/a><\/p>\n

In Alberta, the UCP government\u2019s move to take control of the electoral map will likely spark legal challenges. The reasons from the Supreme Court in the Quebec case, depending on the details, could have an impact in Alberta, Ms. McNicoll said.<\/p>\n

The history of court judgments on what the Charter\u2019s democratic rights include is somewhat sparse. In 1991, a Supreme Court ruling on electoral boundaries in Saskatchewan established the limited idea of effective representation.<\/p>\n

Justice Colin Feasby of Alberta\u2019s superior court in recent months delivered speeches at several universities titled \u201cDefining Democratic Rights.\u201d Among his observations was one related to the 1991 top court ruling: The Supreme Court said nothing about what Justice Feasby described as \u201cample evidence in the Saskatchewan Electoral Boundaries case that the electoral map in question was drawn to help re-elect the incumbent Saskatchewan government.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his written remarks, Justice Feasby more broadly stated: \u201cOne of the greatest risks to democracy is elected governments making electoral laws that favour their own re-election.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Supreme Court\u2019s written reasons in the Quebec case – to be published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-622457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-science","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}