Photo: Jacques Boissinot La Presse canadienne Le leader conservateur Éric Duhaime a reproché jeudi aux quatre formations politiques représentées à l’Assemblée nationale d’« alimenter la distorsion démocratique » en stoppant le remaniement de la carte électorale.
The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, opposes the decision applying a brake to the planned redistribution of the electoral map. “The Liberal-Solidarity-Pequist Coalition has just decided to put democracy on hold again,” he proclaimed on Thursday.
At a press conference a stone's throw from parliament, the conservative leader accused the four political parties represented in the National Assembly of “fueling democratic distortion” by stopping the reshuffling of the electoral map planned until now. 'last week by the Electoral Representation Commission (CRE).
“It makes no sense the way it was done,” Mr. Duhaime shouted Thursday. “The overhaul of the electoral map is not done to please MPs, it is there to better represent voters. »
A week ago, the Minister responsible for Democratic Institutions, Jean-François Roberge, announced along with his colleagues from the Liberal Party of Quebec, Quebec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois that he was preparing to table a bill to postpone the next electoral redistribution to 2030. He will then present a second bill to review the criteria for delimiting Quebec constituencies.
The CRE, which is chaired by the Director General of Elections, Jean-François Blanchet, planned to modify the electoral map for 2026 by removing constituencies in Gaspésie and Montreal and adding some in the Centre-du -Quebec and in the Laurentians.
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The Electoral Law provides that “each constituency must be delimited in such a way that […] the number of voters in a constituency is neither more nor less than 25%” than the average number of voters by constituency. The area of territory covered by the deputy is not a criterion considered in the electoral division.
Upon learning of the minister's intentions last week, the three commissioners sitting on the CRE said they were “concerned”. “A stoppage of work would compromise the fair and equitable representation of voters for the next elections,” they argued in a press release.
Add constituencies ?
According to Éric Duhaime, the independence of Quebec's democratic institutions is at stake. The possibility of adding constituencies – to which Minister Roberge opened the door – does not rejoice him any more. “We are $11 billion in the hole this year. The last thing to do is send a signal that the political class wants to spend even more taxpayer money,” he said.
The conservative leader accuses the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and its “allies” from the opposition parties of proceeding “on partisan bases.” “There is a slippery slope and Quebec is on it,” he said Thursday, adding that he wanted to be consulted for the future. He was accompanied by his candidate in Drummond–Bois-Francs in the 2022 elections, Myriam Cournoyer, who recalled having finished in second position, behind the CAQ, at the time.
The CRE suggested to elected officials in its most recent proposal to add a neighboring constituency to Drummond–Bois-Francs to better represent the share of the electorate located in the region. “There are people in Drummond today… their vote has just been diluted,” said Mr. Duhaime, now that his position was not partisan.