Third

Session, 47th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2015

BILL 42

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES ACT

Received and Read the First Time ....................................................

January 20, 2015

Second Reading ...................................................................................

January 22, 2015

Committee .............................................................

4 Amendments January 22, 2015

Third Reading .......................................................................................

January 22, 2015

Royal Assent ........................................................................................

January 23, 2015

HONOURABLE

DARIN T. KING

Government House Leader

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Electoral Boundaries Act to

require the electoral

boundaries commission to report upon the delimitation of the province into

districts in 2015;

reduce the number of one-member

districts in the province to 38; and

make consequential amendments

for the purpose of a commission report in 2015.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES

ACT

Analysis

S.6 Amdt.

Time of appointment to commission

S.13 R&S

Redistribution and population quotient

S.14 R&S

Reports

S.15 Amdt.

Rules to guide commission

S.16 Amdt.

Powers of commission

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cE-4

as amended

(1) Section 6 of

the Electoral Boundaries Act is amended by adding

immediately after subsection (1) the following:

(1.1) For the purpose

of the appointment of a commission in 2015, the speaker of the House of

Assembly shall appoint the members of the commission not more than 5 days after

the appointment of the chairperson under

section 3.

(2) Section

6 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the

following:

(3) Notwithstanding

subsection (2), the appointments of the members of a commission in 2015 shall

lapse after the expiration of 120 days after the appointment of the chairperson

under

section 3.

(4) Notwithstanding

subsection (3), the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, may by order, extend the

time period referred to in subsection (3) for one additional period of not more

than 10 days.

(5) Where a

commission appointed for the purpose of preparing a report in 2015 does not

report as required by this Act, the failure to report shall not in any way

affect the requirement for a general election under

an Act of the province, and

a general election shall be held in accordance with that legislation.

(6) Where a

commission appointed for the purpose of preparing a report in 2015 lapses

without the commission having submitted a report in the time frame required

under subsection (3), a commission shall be appointed in the calendar year

2016, and all references in this Act to a requirement of or a consideration by

a commission appointed for the purpose of preparing a report in 2015 shall

apply, with the necessary changes, to the commission appointed in

Section 13 of the Act

is repealed and the following substituted:

Redistribution and population quotient

(1) In the calendar year 2015 the

commission shall divide the province into 40 proposed one-member districts.

(2) In the

calendar year beginning in 2026, and every 10 calendar years after that, the

commission shall, as soon as is convenient after March 31, divide the province

into 40 proposed one-member districts.

(3) The commission

shall determine a quotient for each proposed district by dividing the total

population of the province by the number 39.

(4) Notwithstanding

subsection (3), for the purpose of the commission's report in 2015, the

commission shall determine a quotient for each proposed district by dividing

the total population of the province by the number 36.

(5) For the

purpose of establishing the quotient under subsection (3), the population of

the province shall be taken as in the latest census figures available under the

Statistics Act ( Canada ) on March 31 of the calendar

year in which the quotient is being established, irrespective of when those

census figures were actually taken.

(6) For the

purpose of establishing the quotient under subsection (4), the population of

the province shall be taken as in the latest census figures available under the

Statistics Act ( Canada ) when the quotient is being

established, irrespective of when those census figures were actually taken.

(7) For the

purpose of the commission's report in 2015, the total population of the

province shall, for the purpose of subsection (4), be considered not to include

that portion of the total population living within the area of the province

comprising Labrador .

(8) For the

purpose of subsection (3), the total population of the province shall be

considered not to include that portion of the total population living within

the area of the province comprising the district proposed by the commission

under subsection 15(4).

Section 14 of the Act is repealed and the

following substituted:

Reports

(1) In

2015, and in 2026 and every 10 calendar years after that, the commission shall

prepare a report to the minister setting out their recommendations concerning

(

a) the division of the province into the number

of one-member districts determined under

section 13;

(

b) the description of the boundaries of each

district; and

(

c) the name to be given to each district and the

name shall incorporate the historical and geographical factors that the

commission considers appropriate.

(2) Not more than 120 days after the appointment

of a chairperson for the purpose of the commissions report in 2015, and before

the end of the calendar year 2026 and before the end of every 10 calendar years

after that, the commission shall submit the report referred to in subsection

(1) to the minister, who shall

(

a) submit a copy immediately to the

Lieutenant-Governor in Council; and

(

b) lay a copy

before the Legislature within 10 days after the report is submitted to the

Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

4. (1) Paragraph

15(3)(

a) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(

a) the community

of interests of the residents of those communities of the province that are not

connected by road; or

(2) Section

15 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after subsection (3) the

following:

(3.1) Notwithstanding subsections

(1) to (3), for

the purpose of the commission's report in 2015, the commission may recommend the creation of not more than 2

districts on the island portion of the province with a population that departs

from the quotient established under

section 13 and the deviation permitted

under subsection (3) where that departure, in the opinion of the commission, is

warranted on the basis of those considerations referred to in subsection (3).

(3) Subsection

15(6) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(6) Notwithstanding

the other provisions of this section, for the purpose of the commission's

report in 2015, the commission shall divide the Labrador

portion of the province into 4 proposed districts, including the district

referred to in subsection (4), and shall, in describing the boundaries of those

districts, consider their historical boundaries.

Section 16 of the Act is amended by deleting

the reference " Public Inquiries Act "

and substituting the reference " Public

Inquiries Act, 2006 ".

Queen's Printer