Dear Editor,
Do we still live in a democracy?
The Nova Scotia government recently announced the creation of a new electoral district: Cheticamp-Margaree-Pleasant Bay. It was created to improve representation for the Acadian population and is the fourth protected riding for the Acadian community within the province. Nova Scotian parties have been calling for nominations to ready themselves for the upcoming byelection in the new electoral district.
But while there will be a byelection held in the new riding, Inverness will continue to be represented by the current MLA, made possible by the addition of Clause 4 to Bill 203 by the PC party. This essentially means that voters from another district will have helped to choose the representative for the Inverness riding.
This situation is unprecedented. In Nova Scotia there have been almost 100 byelections since Confederation and there has never been a case where a seat changed to this extent and the other constituency was not impacted. In fact this situation has not even ever happened anywhere in Canada. Clause 4 goes against the fundamental principles of representative democracy.
My question is: Why did the PC party include Clause 4 in this bill and deny voters in the Inverness electoral district the opportunity to reaffirm the mandate of their MLA? Is it merely a cost saving measure? Or are they afraid that the voters in the Inverness district might not re-elect their candidate?
Sincerely,
Elly Heim
Mount Young