On Saturday, I wrote that the majority members of the Nova Scotia Electoral Boundaries Commission only pretended to "interpret" their Terms of Reference, when in fact they had openly disregarded them.  Their only ethical choice, I wrote, was to "resign from the commission; or swallow hard and complete their assigned task." Important members of both opposition parties have responded. Liberal MLA Andrew Younger did so in a series of tweets: In fact, Canadian courts have ruled that +/- 25 percent should be the normal limit for variations in riding sizes, but that legislatures may go beyond that limit in special circumstances. It...

03 June, 2012

Chapter Three of the Interim Report of the Nova Scotia Electoral Boundaries Commission is tittled, "Interpretation of the Terms of Reference." It might more honestly be called, "Decision to Disregard the Terms of Reference." That's what seven members of the commission decided to do: overrule the Terms of Reference set down in law by the elected representatives of Nova Scotia. They did so in response to a vociferous lobby by Acadians and African Nova Scotians, anxious to retain the four seats exempted from rep-by-pop to encourage the election of MLAs representing those ethnic groups. The seven members  — Chair Teresa MacNeil,* Johnstown,...

02 June, 2012