QUEBEC - The next time Quebecers are called to the polls there will be a new electoral map in place.
Three ridings will be added in the Laval, Laurentides and Lanaudiere regions, while the Gaspe, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Beauce regions will lose one riding each. That means the current total of 125 ridings will remain unchanged.
In terms of political power in the affected regions, the governing Liberals hold all five seats in Laval and all three seats in Gaspe.
The PQ dominates in the Laurentides and Lanaudiere regions, holding 13 of 14 seats, with the other going to the Liberals.
The Bas-Saint-Laurent region is split with three seats for the Parti Quebecois and two for the Liberals.
Finally, the Beauce is split with one seat for the Action democratique du Quebec and one for the Liberals.
The director general of elections, Marcel Blanchet, was before a parliamentary commission Tuesday to explain to the legislature that the changes were made necessary in order to respect Quebec's electoral laws.
Currently, 27 of Quebec's 125 ridings do not respect the law in terms of the number of voters. Quebec's law is the most lenient in Canada, allowing a range of 25 per cent above or below the average the average number of voters per riding.
Blanchet explained that the continued migration of people from the rural regions toward urban centres forced the electoral map to be rearranged.
