The current district of Inverness would be divided into two new electoral districts: Cheticamp–Margarees– Pleasant Bay and Inverness–We’koqma’q. (Electoral Boundaries Commission)
-by Rankin MacDonald
The Electoral Boundaries Commission has recommended that the Riding of Inverness be split in two in order to provide better representation for the Acadian Region of Inverness County.
The commission released its final report on January 30th, in both French and English.
Commission members were appointed in April 2025 by an all-party select committee of the House of Assembly for the purpose of recommending electoral boundaries to provide effective representation of the Acadian region of Chéticamp and area. The select committee also provided the commission with terms of reference.
The last review of the province’s electoral boundaries took place in 2018-19. Reviews normally take place at least every 10 years. This review, however, was conducted as a result of an order by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, which ruled that the previous commission’s decision not to create an exceptional electoral district for Chéticamp violated Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In its interim report, submitted in August 2025 after public consultation, the commission presented three alternatives: keeping the status quo, with 55 electoral districts, and two other proposed scenarios, each with 56 electoral districts.
For the final report, the commission’s terms of reference mandated that only one set of boundaries be recommended.
After deliberations following a second round of public consultation, the commission is unanimously recommending a House of Assembly of 56 seats. The current district of Inverness would be divided into two new electoral districts: Chéticamp-Margarees-Pleasant Bay and Inverness-We’koqma’q.
Commission Chair Kenneth Deveau thanks everyone who contributed oral and written comments during the two rounds of public consultation.
“It was a difficult job, but it was a pleasure working with this commission of dedicated members,” Mr. Deveau said. “There were very helpful and passionate contributions from the public in all the communities we heard from. As our mandate draws to a close, I – and I am sure I speak on behalf of all commission members – am honoured to have been chosen and to have had the opportunity to serve my province through this process.”
The new riding of Chéticamp – Margarees – Pleasant Bay recognizes that
– The District of Inverness, as it currently stands, does not meet the mandate,
– the Margarees constitute a community of interest and should be not split apart, and,
– there are strong Acadian roots in the Margarees which include people of Acadian descent who no longer speak French.
The names of the new ridings clearly describe the areas and the communities (both Acadian and Indigenous) that they include.
The new riding of Chéticamp – Margarees – Pleasant Bay represents a 56th seat in the province, one that is considered exceptional as it deviates from the 25 per cent threshold for voter parity. However, this is supported by the terms of reference, which allow deviations for reasons of geography; historical, cultural or linguistic settlement patterns; and political boundaries.
Dr. Kenneth Deveau was the commission chair while Martin Chiasson, Point Cross, represented Inverness County.
Speaking for many of the residents of Margaree and Pleasant Bay, Marcel Deveaux looked to the future.
“On Friday, January 30th, the 2025 Electoral Boundaries Commission recommended that a new provincial riding, called the “Cheticamp – Margarees – Pleasant Bay” riding, be created. As the name implies this riding will include Pleasant Bay, Cheticamp and all of the Margarees as well as all the communities within those boundaries. The stated purpose of this new district is “to provide effective representation of the Acadian region of Cheticamp and area.” Premier Houston has accepted the Commission’s recommendation and will introduce enabling legislation in the upcoming sitting of the legislature.
“The vast majority of the voters in Pleasant Bay and Margaree were opposed to this change. We made many strong and thoughtful submissions to the Commission that we were happy with the status quo and feared that being in a small district dominated by the special interest groups in Cheticamp would decrease our effective representation.
“Despite our disappointment with the Commission’s recommendation, I hope that I speak for all of the residents of Pleasant Bay and the Margarees when I say that we accept the recommendation and we will engage in the political process to ensure that our interests, and the interests of the new district as a whole, will be addressed. I hope that we can work cooperatively and respectfully with our counterparts in Cheticamp to achieve this end. We consider the new district to be a “Cheticamp – Margarees – Pleasant Bay” riding not a “Cheticamp and Area” riding. Each of our communities has distinct areas of interest as well as interests in common. They all need to be addressed.
“It has to be said that the residents of Pleasant Bay and Margaree feel that we were not well served by the Commission’s work. There were significant procedural and communications problems of the Commission’s own doing that greatly interfered with our ability to make our positions known. We are aware of conflict-of-interest issues affecting a majority of the Commission members, which leave us unsure that our concerns were considered fairly. The report itself contains numerous statements that show us that they fundamentally misunderstood some of the core issues that concerned us. Finally, the Commission’s recommendation had to be based on the principle of balancing effective representation with voter parity, and we question whether the Commission got it right.
“This new district is by far the smallest district in the province. It has only about ¼ the number of voters that districts in Nova Scotia are supposed to have. This gives the voters in this smaller district more voting power than voters in larger districts, and this violates the principle of “voter parity” that states all districts should have about the same number of voters.
“This extreme deviation from voter parity will be a concern for voters and business interests in oversized districts in the province. It is without precedent and it sets a precedent. For that reason, this Commission’s recommendation will echo in future Electoral Boundaries Commissions’ deliberations.”
Inverness Municipal Councillor Claude Poirier said he was pleased with the decision they have been seeking for over five years.
“We got it,” he said. “It will be good for the whole region.” We were unable to contact some of the other key players in this decision but Warden Bonny MacIsaac said council will be discussing it on Thursday at its regular council meeting.