With just 58 days remaining in the calendar year, the Wakeham government has yet to appoint the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, raising serious questions from the Official Opposition about whether the government intends to meet the legislated timeline. Alarmingly, the PCs have also failed to confirm that they will follow convention and uphold democratic principles by consulting all parties in the House of Assembly for the selection of Commissioners.
The Electoral Boundaries Act requires that the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission be appointed as expeditiously as possible after March 31 of 2026 (Section 6). It also requires that, in the calendar year 2026, the Commission develop new boundaries as soon as convenient after March 31 (Subsection 13(2)).
During Estimates on April 29, Minister Conway Ottenheimer was asked when the Commission would be established. She indicated that the government would act “very expeditiously” following Budget 2026.
Nothing has been done expeditiously, given that the Minister made that commitment more than six months ago. A chairperson for the Commission has yet to be appointed, or, if one has been appointed, the Minister has not made that information public.
The Act allows the Commission up to 120 days from the appointment of its chairperson to submit its report to the Minister. However, it also requires that the report be submitted by the end of the 2026 calendar year.
The Minister of Justice has also failed to confirm whether the government will follow the convention of involving all parties in the House of Assembly in appointing the Commission’s four other members. This raises serious questions about whether the Wakeham government may be attempting to control the Commission for partisan purposes.
Given the PC government’s track record of hand-picking appointees and failing to follow proper procedures, this is extremely concerning. The Electoral Boundaries Commission is an important democratic process that must involve all parties, not simply the party in power.
The Premier handpicked his own oversight panel to rubber-stamp his work on Churchill Falls and has appointed long-time PC supporters to positions that should have followed proper appointment processes. The establishment of electoral districts is far too fundamental to our democracy to be dictated by whichever party happens to be in power during the redistribution process.
On January 22, 2015, the last time this process took place as required by the legislation, then PC MHA Granter explained the convention for selecting commissioners:
“It is customary that the Speaker gets co-operation from the Opposition parties. They put names forward. The governing party puts names forward as well. The Speaker of the House chooses from the entire population of Newfoundland and Labrador to choose those four.”
This was reflected in the appointment of commissioners that included individuals suggested by all parties in 2015.
The Official Opposition urges the PC government to commit to following its own rules and stop evading questions about whether it will do so.
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