FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CALGARY — A new report released today by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy finds significant disparities in political representation across Canada’s federal institutions, alongside strong public support for reforms to strengthen fairness and national unity. 

Unequal Votes and Uneven Representation: Facts on Canada’s Parliament combines demographic and fiscal analysis with a nationwide survey of 2,710 Canadians conducted by Léger for the Aristotle Foundation. The report shows that Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario are underrepresented in both the House of Commons and the Senate, while all other provinces are comparatively overrepresented. 

The Léger poll found that 66 percent  of Canadians thought each Member of Parliament should represent roughly  the same number of people; only 16 percent disagreed.  Fifty percent thought that the Senate should be reformed; only 15 percent thought it should be left as is (and 12 percent thought it should be abolished). On federal transfers, 43 percent of Canadians supported reforming federal transfer programs if separatist tensions rose in Western Canada or Quebec.

Reality Check key findings and comparisons: 

House of Commons: 

• British Columbia has the highest number of persons per federal riding at 134,057, followed by Ontario (133,077) and Alberta (132,645). Canada-wide, the average riding has 121,075 residents. BC, Ontario, and Alberta are underrepresented in the House of Commons.
• All other provinces are overrepresented in the House of Commons. They range from Quebec (116,816 residents per riding) to Prince Edward Island where every riding, on average, contains just 44,538 residents.

Senate: 

• The same three provinces are again underrepresented in the Senate with BC Senate seats representing 953,720 residents, Alberta with 826,683 people per senator, and Ontario with 674,277 per Senate seat. The Canadian average per senator is 395,511 residents.
• All other provinces have far fewer residents per Senate seat than BC, Alberta, and Ontario: Quebec’s number is 379,651 with Prince Edward Island numbering 44,820 residents per Senate seat.

Fiscal balance: 

• According to the University of Calgary School of Public Policy, the total net contribution by province to the federal fiscal balance over nearly six decades was greatest for Ontario ($768 billion), followed by Alberta ($630 billion), and BC ($138 billion). All other provinces were net recipients of federal fiscal flows with Quebec, the largest recipient, at $497 billion.
• On a per capita basis, the three net contributors to the federal fiscal balance were Alberta ($3,720 per person), Ontario ($1,267), and BC ($603).
• All other provinces, also measured per capita, were again net recipients with net inflows ranging from Quebec ($1,200 per person) to Prince Edward Island ($6,795).

Population shifts over time: 

• The last province to join Confederation was Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. In that year, Quebec’s population was 28.9 percent of Canada’s total population; in 2025 that figure was 21.9 percent.

Since 1949, three provinces have increased their share of Canada’s population: Ontario, from 32.6 percent in 1949 to 39.0 percent in 2025; British Columbia, from 8.3 percent to 13.8 percent; and Alberta, from 6.6 percent to 11.9 percent.

“The Léger poll reveals that Canadians believe in fair representation and are open to meaningful reform to preserve Canada. The population changes, combined with existing structural inequities in Canada’s political institutions, reveal the ‘why’ for dissatisfaction in some parts of the country, most notably British Columbia and Alberta,” notes lead author Mark Milke, president of the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. “As Canada’s population shifted westward and increased proportionately in Ontario as well, our federal institutions have not fully adjusted. If representation is to remain legitimate, it must more closely reflect demographic realities.” 

The full report is available at aristotlefoundation.org. 

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Media Contact 

Dami Itabiyi 
Media and Marketing Coordinator 
Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy 
Dami@aristotlefoundation.org 
403-401-3828