New Quebec electoral map proposed

Quebec's minister responsible for electoral reform, Claude Béchard, has tabled a proposal to change the province's electoral map.

Last year, a proposal submitted by Quebec's chief electoral officer, Marcel Blanchet, was scrapped amid outrage from regions of the province facing a steady population decline.

Blanchet's plan was to shift some ridings from the Gaspé region to areas where the population is growing, including the suburbs around Montreal.

But Béchard said population stagnation isn't just happening in smaller communities.

"In 20 or 30 years, with the current system, there will be fewer ridings on the island of Montreal, and more around Montreal," he said.

Béchard 's proposal would set a minimum number of ridings per region — ensuring they would keep their political clout despite their shrinking population.

The new map would have two "exceptional" ridings that would be preserved despite their small populations: Nunavik and Ungava; and Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

The map would be revised every 10 years.

Béchard said changes to the map are needed as there are more than one million more eligible voters in the province than there were 20 years ago.

The opposition Parti Québécois said the government's proposal will lead to an explosion in the number of MNAs.

Currently, there are 125 seats in the national assembly, but PQ critic Stéphane Bedard said that number could jump by 20 or 25 under Béchard's proposal.

"It is like a sort of open bar," said Bédard.

Bédard said Liberal ministers, including Béchard — who represents the riding of Kamouraska-Témiscouata in the Lower St. Lawrence Region — might be trying to protect their own rural ridings from being eliminated.