Questions for your Forever Canadian Family Members

If you are at a Thanksgiving celebration today with family members and the conversation starts to drag, here are a few questions to ask which are sure to wake everyone up after a big turkey dinner.

1. Consider this: Alberta, with 34 federal ridings, has an average population of 115,343 per riding, while the Atlantic provinces, with 32 ridings, have an average of 69,311. How can this be fair in a democracy where every vote should carry equal weight?

2. Alberta has 6 Senators compared to Atlantic Canada’s 30 Senators. On a per capita basis, there is one Senator for every 653,304 in Alberta, while Atlantic Canada has one Senator for every 73598. How can you justify this discrepancy?

3. The nine members of the Supreme Court have been allocated by their regional location—with Quebec getting three seats, Ontario three, the Western Provinces two, and the Atlantic Provinces one. How is it fair that two provinces (20% of the provinces) have 2/3 of the authority of the Supreme Court?

4. Can you say that Albertans are getting fair and equal representation at a federal level?

Happy Thanksgiving!