Report finds Canada’s democratic institutions fail to reflect population realities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CALGARY — A new study released today by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy finds that Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta are dramatically underrepresented in the House of Commons vis-à-vis the other seven provinces. The study proposes a remedy to this disparity.  

The report, It’s 2026, not 1867: A 21st-century review of population and representation in the House of Commons and Senate, by Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam, with a foreword by former BC premier Gordon Campbell, examines federal elections in every decade since the 1970s as well as practices in other parliamentary democracies that could serve as a model for Canada. It also finds that despite the House of Commons rebalancing every ten years, underrepresentation has been the norm for decades with Ontario “missing” the most seats.  

Key Findings 

• In the first census after Confederation, in 1871, the West constituted a mere 2 per cent of Canadians, dwarfed by the Maritimes’ 21 per cent and Central Canada at 76 per cent. Today, 32 per cent of the nation’s population is in Western Canada with 61 per cent in Central Canada, and just over 6 per cent in Atlantic Canada. 
• The disparity among ridings across Canada is stark: As of 2025, the most recent federal election year, on average, each Member of Parliament (MP) in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario represented 134,057, 133,077, and 132,645 residents, respectively. In contrast, the ridings in the other seven provinces ranged from 44,820 people in Prince Edward Island to 116,816 in Quebec.  
• In other words, one PEI vote was worth three times that of an Ontario vote. A vote cast in Newfoundland and Labrador was worth almost twice that of an Albertan. 
• Despite rebalancing and additional seats added to the House of Commons every ten years, a review of selected election years since the 1970s shows the same pattern: Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta are chronically underrepresented in the House of Commons. 
• The study offers a reform scenario based on precedent in other parliamentary democracies. The reform would include increasing the number of seats in the House of Commons to 350 from 343, and rebalancing ridings to have much closer average populations per riding. In this scenario, Ontario would gain 12 seats given its population size and current underrepresentation, British Columbia five, and Alberta four. In contrast, all Atlantic provinces and Quebec would lose two seats each, while Saskatchewan would lose three seats and Manitoba would lose one seat. 
• Other Anglosphere nations, in their lower houses—akin to Canada’s House of Commons—rigorously reapportion seats based on population changes. For example, in the United Kingdom, in response to a 2023 review of Westminster constituencies effective for the 2024 election, England gained 10 constituencies, Northern Ireland’s seat count remained the same, Scotland lost two constituencies, and Wales lost eight constituencies. Australia and New Zealand similarly rebalance their lower houses to ensure closer average riding populations.  

“Democratic legitimacy depends in part on votes being reasonably equal in weight,” said Mark Milke, president of the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. “There are other reasons for reform of the House of Commons: One is that the Senate is virtually unreformable due to a 2014 Supreme Court of Canada decision,” notes Milke.  

“The other is that given current separatist sentiment in the West and a possible resurgence in Quebec, facts matter to debates: Ontario would benefit most from a House of Commons where ridings are much closer in population size, followed by BC and Alberta. In contrast, Quebec’s share of the House of Commons is higher than its population warrants.”  

“Canada’s House of Commons should reflect 21st-century population realities and restore a greater sense of fairness across the country,” notes Milke.  

The full report is available at aristotlefoundation.org. 

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Media Contact: 
Cathy Simpson 
Outreach and Engagement Officer 
cathys@aristotlefoundation.org | 905-329-3548