New Brunswick electoral redistribution, 2006


The New Brunswick electoral redistribution of 2006 was undertaken as a result of legislation introduced by Bernard Lord, the Premier of New Brunswick, Canada, on June 9, 2005. The legislation establishes a statutory requirement for redistribution of electoral districts after every decennial Canadian census.
The redistribution process set out in the legislation took approximately six months to complete, and was overseen by an independent commission. The bill introduced by the government would have required that 55 ridings be maintained with populations varying between 75% and 110% of 1/55 of the provincial population. The Opposition Liberals expressed a desire for the commission to have greater flexibility either in the variance of the average population or in the number of districts. On June 30, 2005, an agreement was reached and the bill was amended to allow the commission to ignore population basis entirely in "extraordinary circumstances," but should strive to be within the range of 90% to 110% of the average population of 55 districts.
There was considerable work to be done as 35 out of the 55 districts that existed from the outset were outside of the +/- 10% range. This is due in part to the population shifts over the course of a decade, and because the requirement was +/- 25% during the previous redistribution.
In the end, the commission was able to maintain most districts in their same alignment by means of minor boundary adjustments. However, two sets of districts were merged and there were considerable changes of district boundaries in the cities Dieppe and Fredericton.

Timeline

Co-chairs

On November 21, 2005, the Commission released its preliminary recommendations for new electoral districts. Despite the fact that the vast majority of existing ridings were outside of the +/- 10% population range, most were retained in the new distribution through minor adjustments to their boundaries. In all, 46 of 55 districts are largely unchanged. There are five essentially new districts, three of which resulting from a merger of previous districts or large parts of previous districts.
Only one district was created using the "extraordinary circumstances" clause of the legislation which allows districts to be less than 90% of the provincial average population. This was the district of Tantramar, which is an anglophone area surrounded by water, Nova Scotia and francophone areas. The Commission argued that the only way to maintain a community of interest was to leave the boundaries as they were. The districts of Nigadoo-Chaleur, Saint John Lancaster and Saint John Portland were the only others to have no changes whatsoever to their boundaries.
These proposals will be taken to the public in a series of hearings in January 2006, and may be subject to change before the commission tables its final report on February 18, 2006.
† represents a proposal that was altered in the final report

New districts

Merged districts

Largely unchanged districts

Though these districts were all largely unchanged from their previous form, some new names have been recommended due to subtle community changes as a result of minor boundary changes or for other reasons. These districts are denoted by an asterisk.
Name of districtChanges
AlbertGains and loses different parts of territory to and from Riverview
BathurstLoses territory to Nepisiguit
Campbellton†Gains parts of Restigouche West while losing territory to Dalhousie-Restigouche East
CaraquetGains territory from Centre-Péninsule and Nepisiguit
Carleton†Loses small parts to Victoria-Tobique
Centre-PéninsuleGains territory from Lamèque-Shippagan-Miscou, Nepisiguit and Tracadie-Sheila while losing territory to Caraquet
Charlotte-Campobello*This district maintains most of the territory of Western Charlotte but also gains Campobello Island
Dalhousie-Restigouche EastGains parts of Campbellton and Restigouche West
Edmundston-Saint Basile*The existing district of Edmundston plus part of the old district of Madawaska-la-Vallée
Fredericton-Odell*†This is district is largely the same as the old Fredericton South district losing small parts of territory to Fredericton-Lincoln and gaining small parts from New Maryland
Grand Bay-WestfieldGains those parts of Saint John County currently in Charlotte
Grand Falls*†The old Grand Falls Region district, less small amounts of territory lost to Victoria-Tobique plus portions of Madawaska-la-Vallée with the district name changed to the less cumbersome though somewhat less appropriate Grand Falls
Hampton-BelleisleLoses territory to Kings East while gaining from Kennebecasis and Saint John-Fundy
KentLoses territory to Rogersville-Kouchibouguac while gaining territory from Kent South
Kent SouthLoses territory to Kent and Petitcodiac while gaining from Shediac-Cap-Pelé and Moncton Crescent
Kings EastLoses territory to Petitcodiac and gains territory from Hampton-Belleisle
Lamèque-Shippagan-MiscouLoses territory to Centre-Péninsule
MactaquacThis district gains significant population from the town of Nackawic area from the riding of York while losing small territory to Nashwaaksis and Southwest Miramichi
Madawaska-les-LacsGains parts of the old district of Madawaska-la-Vallée
Miramichi CentreLoses parts to Southwest Miramichi and renamed Miramichi-Neguac district, while gaining part of Miramichi-Bay du Vin
Miramichi-Bay du VinLoses parts to Miramichi Centre
Miramichi-Neguac*†Miramichi Bay gains territory from Miramichi Centre while losing territory to Tracadie-Sheila. As it is losing some of the territory around Miramichi Bay, the name change is proposed
Moncton Crescent†Gains territory from Moncton North while losing territory to Codiac, Kent South and Petitcodiac
Moncton East†Loses territory to Codiac while gaining territory from Moncton North and Moncton South
Moncton North†Loses territory to Moncton East and Moncton Crescent
Moncton South†Loses territory to Moncton East
NepisiguitLoses territory to Centre-Péninsule and Caraquet while gaining from Bathurst
New Maryland†Loses territory to both Fredericton-Odell and Fredericton-Lincoln
Nigadoo-Chaleurcompletely unchanged
Oromocto*The Oromocto-Gagetown district less territory lost to the new Grand Lake-Gagetown district
Petitcodiac†Gains territory from Grand Lake, Kings East, Moncton Crescent and Kent South
Quispamsis*The district of Kennebecasis loses the small amounts of territory outside of the town of Quispamsis and accordingly changes its name to the same
RiverviewGains and loses different parts of territory to and from Albert
Rogersville-KouchibouguacGains territory from both Miramichi Centre and Kent
Rothesay-Kings*†Saint John-Kings loses most of the city of Saint John that lies within its boundaries to Saint John-Fundy and the renamed Saint John East districts and changes its name to reflect the importance of the town of Rothesay and the fact that little of Saint John remains
Saint John East*The district of Saint John Champlain gains territory from Saint John-Kings and loses territory to Saint John Harbour while its name is changed to better reflect its communities
Saint John Harbour†Gains territory from Saint John Champlain
Saint John Lancastercompletely unchanged
Saint John Portland†completely unchanged
Saint John-Fundy†Loses territory to Hampton-Belleisle while gaining from Saint John-Kings
Shediac-Cap-PeléLoses territory to Dieppe-Memramcook and Kent South
Southwest MiramichiGains parts of Mactaquac and Miramichi Centre
TantramarDespite being smaller than the 10% of the provincial average, this district is unchanged under the "extraordinary circumstances" clause of the Act due to its being an Anglophone area completely surrounded by Francophones
Tracadie-SheilaLoses territory to Centre-Péninsule while gaining from Miramichi Bay
Victoria-Tobique†Gains small parts of Carleton and Grand Falls Region
Woodstock†This district loses that part of York County within its boundaries to York
York†Loses territory to Mactaquac while gaining approximately equal amounts from Woodstock

Final report

The commission released its final report on February 20, 2006. The commission altered the boundaries of 20 of the 55 districts from its proposals in its preliminary report, though many of the changes were minor. It also changed the proposed names of three districts whose boundaries remained the same as in the preliminary report.
There was some question as to whether or not these boundaries will be used in the next general election, there has been much media speculation that the government may fall by April 7, 2006 which would be just two days after the period for appeal of the commission's work will have ended. Government House Leader Bev Harrison has suggested that should the government fall then, it would be unlikely for the government to enact the regulation required to finalize the new boundaries so as to prevent confusion for voters and party officials. The Opposition House Leader, Kelly Lamrock, has suggested he would agree with such a move. However, Premier Bernard Lord went on to say that the boundaries would be used if at all possible as they are more equitable than the old boundaries. The election was not held, however, until September, and these boundaries were used.

Changes only in the name of the district

The legislation governing the electoral district reform process allowed for appeals to the final report which were signed by two members of the legislature. The commission received 15 such appeals.
After considering the appeals, the commission discarded most of them saying that the appeals did not provide further justification beyond those arguments that they had already rejected or that accepting the changes would cause a domino effect requiring a massive redrawing of the boundaries.
They did however accept three appeals:
The Electoral Boundaries and Representation Act forbade the Legislative Assembly from making any changes to the boundaries of electoral districts, but it did allow MLAs to change their names. On May 12, 2006, the Legislature decided to make several changes as follows:
Name proposed by CommissionName as changed by Assembly
Centre-PeninsuleCentre-Peninsule-Saint-Saveur
Dieppe CentreDieppe Centre-Lewisville
Grand Bay-WestfieldFundy-River Valley
Hampton-BelleisleHampton-Kings
MactaquacYork North
Miramichi BayMiramichi Bay-Neguac
Moncton SouthMoncton West
New MarylandNew Maryland-Sunbury West